University  of  California  •  Berkeley 


,. 


NOTES 


FLOKIDIAN  PENINSULA; 

ITS 

LITEEAEY  HISTORY, 

INDIAN    TRIBES    AND    ANTIQUITIES. 

BY 

DANIEL  G.  BEINTOJST,  A.  B. 


PHILADELPHIA : 
PUBLISHED    BY    JOSEPH    SABIN, 

No.  27  SOUTH  SIXTH  STREET,  ABOVE  CHESTNUT. 

1859. 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1859,  by 
DANIEL  G.  BRINTON, 

In  the  Clerk's  office -of  the  District  Court,  in  and  for  the 
Eastern  District  of  Pennsylvania. 


KINO   &   BAIRD,    PRINTERS,    PHILADA. 


LOVERS   AND   CULTIVATORS 

OF    THE 

HISTORY  AND  ARCHEOLOGY  OF  OUR  COUNTRY, 

THIS  WORK 

IS     RESPECTFULLY    DEDICATED, 

BY    THE   AUTHOR. 


274532 


PREFACE. 


THE  present  little  work  is  the  partial  result  of  odd  hours 
spent  in  the  study  of  the  history,  especially  the  ancient 
history — if  by  this  term  I  may  be  allowed  to  mean  all  that 
pertains  to  the  aborigines  and  first  settlers — of  the  peninsula 
of  Florida.  In  some  instances,  personal  observations  during 
a  visit  thither,  undertaken  for  the  purposes  of  health  in 
the  winter  of  1856-57,  have  furnished  original  matter,  and 
served  to  explain,  modify,  or  confirm  the  statements  of 
previous  writers. 

Aware  of  the  isolated  interest  ever  attached  to  merely 
local  history,  I  have  endeavored,  as  far  as  possible,  by 
pointing  out  various  analogies,  and  connecting  detached 
facts,  to  impress  upon  it  a  character  of  general  value  to 
the  archaeologist  and  historian.  Should  the  attempt  have 
been  successful,  and  should  the  book  aid  as  an  incentive  to 
the  rapidly  increasing  attention  devoted  to  subjects  of  this 
nature,  I  shall  feel  myself  amply  repaid  for  the  hours  of 
toil,  which  have  also  ever  been  hours  of  pleasure,  spent  in 
its  preparation. 
THOKXBURY,  PEN>A.,  APRIL.  1859. 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

LITERARY   HISTORY. 

PAGE. 

Introductory  Remarks. — The  Early  Explorations. — The 
French  Colonies. — The  First  Spanish  Supremacy. — 
The  English  Supremacy. — The  Second  Spanish 
Supremacy. — The  Supremacy  of  the  United  States. — 
Maps  and  Charts 13 

CHAPTER  II. 

THE   APALACHES. 

Derivation  of  the  Name. — Earliest  Notices  of. — Visited 
and  Described  by  Bristock,  in  1653. — Authenticity  of 
his  Narrative. — Subsequent  History  and  Final  Extinc- 
tion    92 

CHAPTER  III. 

TRIBES   OF   THE   SIXTEENTH   CENTURY. 

§  1.  SITUATION  AND  SOCIAL  CONDITION. — Caloosas. — Ais 
and  Tegesta. — Tocobaga. — Vitachuco. — Utina. — So- 
turiba. — Method  of  Government. 

§  2.  CIVILIZATION. — Appearance. — Games. — Agriculture. 
— Construction  of  Dwellings. — Clothing. 

§  3.  RELIGION. — General  Remarks. — Festivals  in  Honor 
of  the  Sun  and  Moon. — Sacrifices. — Priests. — Sepul- 
chral Rites. 

§  4.  LANGUAGES. — The  Timuquana  Tongue. — Words 
Preserved  by  the  French Ill 


Viii  CONTEXTS. 

CHAPTER  IV. 

LATER   TRIBES.  PAGE. 

§  1.  Yemassees. — Uchees. — Apalachicolos. —  Migrations 

Northwards. 
§2.  Seminoles 139 

CHAPTER  V. 

THE   SPANISH   MISSIONS. 

Early  Attempts.— Efforts  of  Aviles.— Later  Missions.— 
Extent  during  the  most  Flourishing  Period. — Decay..  150 

CHAPTER  VI. 

ANTIQUITIES. 

Mounds.— Roads.— Shell  Heaps.— Old  Fields 166 


APPENDIX  I. 
The  Silver  Spring 183 

APPENDIX  II. 
The  Mummies  of  the  Mississippi  Valley 191 

APPENDIX  III. 

The  Precious  Metals  Possessed  by  the  Early  Floridian 
Indians .  199 


THE  FLORIDIAN  PENINSULA. 


CHAPTER  I. 

LITERARY      HISTORY. 

Introductory  Remarks. — The  Early  Explorations. — The  French 
Colonies. — The  first  Spanish  Supremacy. — The  English 
Supremacy. — The  second  Spanish  Supremacy. — The  Su- 
premacy of  the  United  States. — Maps  and  Charts. 

IN  the  study  of  special  and  local  history,  the  inquirer 
finds  his  most  laborious  task  is  to  learn  how  much  his 
predecessors  have  achieved.  It  is  principally  to  obviate 
this  difficulty  in  so  far  as  it  relates  to  a  very  interest- 
ing, because  first  settled  portion  of  our  country,  that  I 
present  the  following  treatise  on  the  bibliographical 
history  of  East  Florida.  A  few  words  are  necessary 
to  define  its  limits,  and  to  explain  the  method  chosen 
in  collocating  works. 

In  reference  to  the  latter,  the  simple  and  natural 
plan  of  grouping  into  one  section  all  works  of  whatever 
date,  illustrating  any  one  period,  suggests  itself  as  well 
adapted  to  the  strongly  marked  history  of  Florida,  how- 
ever objectionable  it  might  be  in  other  cases.  These 
periods  are  six  in  number,  and  consequently  into  six 
sections  a  bibliography  naturally  falls.  The  deeds  of 
the  early  explorers,  the  settlement  and  subsequent 
destruction  of  the  French,  the  two  periods  when  Spain 
wielded  the  sovereign  power,  the  intervening  supre- 
macy of  England,  and  lastly,  since  it  became  attached 
2 


14  •  KLORIDIAN  PENINSULA. 

to  the  United  States,  offer  distinct  fields  of  research, 
and  are  illustrated  by  different  types  of  books.  Such  an 
arrangement  differs  not  materially  from  a  chronological 
adnumeration,  and  has  many  advantages  of  its  own. 

Greater  difficulty  has  been  experienced  in  fixing  the 
proper  limits  of  such  an  essay.  East  Florida  itself  has 
no  defined  boundaries.  I  have  followed  those  laid 
down  by  the  English  in  the  Definitive  Treaty  of  Peace 
of  the  10th  of  February,  1763,  when  for  the  first  time, 
East  and  West  Florida  were  politically  distinguished. 
The  line  of  demarcation  is  here  stated  as  "the  Apala- 
chicola  or  Chataouche  river."  The  Spaniards  afterwards 
included  all  that  region  lying  east  of  the  Rio  Perdido. 
I  am  aware  that  the  bibliography  of  the  Spanish  settle- 
ment is  incomplete,  unless  the  many  documents  relating 
to  Pensacola  are  included,  but  at  present,  this  is  not 
attempted.  It  has  been  deemed  advisable  to  embrace 
not  only  those  works  specially  devoted  to  this  region, 
but  also  all  others  containing  original  matter  apper- 
taining thereto.  Essays  and  reviews  are  mentioned 
only  when  of  unusual  excellence ;  and  a  number  of  ex- 
clusively political  pamphlets  of  recent  date  have  been 
designedly  omitted. 

As  I  have  been  obliged  to  confine  my  researches  to 
the  libraries  of  this  country,  it  will  be  readily  under- 
stood that  a  complete  list  can  hardly  be  expected.  Yet 
I  do  not  think  that  many  others  of  importance  exist  in 
Europe,  even  in  manuscript ;  or  if  so,  they  have  escaped 
the  scrutiny  of  the  laborious  Gustav  Haenel,  whose 
Catalogi  Librorum  Manuscriptorum  I  have  examined 
with  special  reference  to  this  subject.  It  is  proper  to 
add  that  the  critical  remarks  are  founded  on  personal 
examination  in  all  cases,  except  where  the  contrary  is 
specified. 


LITERARY  HISTORY.  15 


§  1. — THE  EARLY  EXPLORATIONS.    1512-1562. 

No  distinct  account  remains  of  the  two  voyages 
(1512,  1521,)  of  the  first  discoverer  and  namer  of 
Florida,  Juan  Ponce  de  Leon.  What  few  particulars 
we  have  concerning  them  are  included  in  the  general 
histories  of  Herrera,  Gromara,  Peter  Martyr,  and  of 
lesser  writers.  However  much  the  historian  may 
regret  this,  it  has  had  one  advantage, — the  romantic 
shadowing  that  hung  over  his  aims  and  aspirations  is 
undisturbed,  and  has  given  them  as  peculiar  property 
to  the  poet  and  the  novelist. 

Of  Pamphilo  de  Narvaez,  on  the  contrary,  a  much 
inferior  man,  we  have  far  more  satisfactory  relations. 
His  Proclamation  to  the  Indians1  has  been  justly  styled 
a  curious  monument  of  the  spirit  of  the  times.  It 
was  occasioned  by  a  merciful  (!)  provision  of  the  laws 
of  the  Indies  forbidding  war  to  be  waged  against  the 
natives  before  they  had  been  formally  summoned  to 
recognize  the  authority  of  the  Pope  and  His  Most 
Catholic  Majesty.  Should,  however,  the  barbarians 
be  so  contumacious  as  to  prefer  their  ancestral  religion 
to  that  of  their  invaders,  or  their  own  chief  to  the 
Spanish  king,  then,  says  Narvaez,  «  With  the  aid  of 
God  and  my  own  sword  I  shall  march  upon  you ;  with 
all  means  and  from  all  sides  I  shall  war  against  you ; 
I  shall  compel  you  to  obey  the  Holy  Church  and  his 
Majesty;  I  shall  seize  you,  your  wives  and  your 

1  Semination  a  faire  aux  Habitants  des  Contrees  et  Pro- 
vinces qui  s'e'tendent  depuis  la  Kiviere  des  Palmes  et  le  cap 
de  la  Floride.  Extrait  du  livre  des  copies  des  Provinces  de 
la  Floride,  Seville  Chambre  da  Commerce,  1527.  It  is  the 
first  piece  in  Ternaux-Compans'  Recueil  des  Pieces  sur  la 
Floride. 


16  FLOEIDIAN  PENINSULA. 

children ;  I  shall  enslave  you,  shall  sell  you,  or  other- 
wise dispose  of  you  as  His  Majesty  may  see  fit ;  your 
property  shall  I  take,  and  destroy,  and  every  possible 
harm  shall  I  work  you  as  refractory  subjects."  Thus 
did  cruelty  and  avarice  stalk  abroad  in  the  garb  of 
religion,  and  an  insatiable  rapacity  shield  itself  by  the 
precepts  of  Christianity. 

Among  the  officers  appointed  by  the  king  to  look 
after  the  royal  interest  in  this  expedition,  holding  the 
post  of  comptroller  or  factor  (Tesorero),  was  a  certain 
Alvar  Nunez,  of  the  distinguished  family  of  Cabeza  de 
Vaca  or  the  Cow's  Head ;  deriving  their  origin  and 
unsonorous  name  from  Martin  Alhaja,  a  mountaineer 
of  Castro  Ferral,  who,  placing  the  bones  of  a  cow's 
head  as  a  landmark,  was  instrumental  in  gaining  for 
the  Christians  the  decisive  battle  of  Las  Navas  de 
Tolosa  (1212),  and  was  ennobled  in  consequence. 
When  war,  disease,  and  famine  had  reduced  the  force 
of  Narvaez  from  three  hundred  to  only  half  a  dozen 
men,  Alvar  Nunez  was  one  of  these,  and  after  seven 
years  wandering,  replete  with  the  wildest  adventure, 
returned  to  Spain,  there  to  receive  the  government  of 
a  fleet  and  the  appointment  of  Adelantado  to  the  un- 
explored regions  around  the  Rio  de  la  Plata.  Years 
afterwards,  when  his  rapacity  and  reckless  tyranny  had 
excited  a  mutiny  among  his  soldiers  and  the  animosity 
of  his  associates,  or,  as  his  defenders  maintain,  his 
success  their  envy  and  ill-will,  he  was  arraigned  before 
the  council  of  the  Indies  in  Spain.  While  the  suit 
was  pending,  as  a  stroke  of  policy  in  order  to  exculpate 
his  former  life  and  set  forth  to  the  world  his  steadfast 
devotion  to  the  interests  of  the  king,  in  conjunction 
with  his  secretary  Pedro  Fernandez  he  wrote  and  pub- 
lished two  works,  one  under  his  own  supervision 


LITERARY  HISTORY.  17 

detailing  his  adventures  in  Florida,1  the  other  his 
transactions  in  South  America.  Twenty-seven  years 
had  elapsed  since  the  expedition  of  Narvaez,  and  prob- 
ably of  the  few  that  escaped,  he  alone  survived.  When 
we  consider  this,  and  the  end  for  which  the  book  was 
written,  what  wonder  that  we  find  Alvar  Nunez  always 
giving  the  best  advice  which  Narvaez  never  follows, 
and  always  at  hand  though  other  men  fail ;  nor,  if  we 
bear  in  mind  the  credulous  spirit  of  the  age  and 
nation,  is  it  marvellous  that  the  astute  statesman 
relates  wondrous  miracles,  even  to  healing  the  sick  and 
raising  the  dead,  that  he  performed,  proving  that  it 
was,  as  he  himself  says,  » the  visible  hand  of  God" 
that  protected  him  in  his  perilous  roamings.  Thus  it 
happens  that  his  work  is  "  disfigured  by  bold  exagger- 
ations and  the  wildest  fictions,"  tasking  even  Spanish 
credulity  to  such  an  extent  that  Barcia  prefaced  his 
edition  of  it  with  an  Examen  Apologetico  by  the 
erudite  Marquis  of  Sorito,  who,  marshalling  together 
all  miraculous  deeds  recorded,  proves  conclusively  that 
Alvar  Nunez  tells  the  truth  as  certainly  as  many  ven- 
erable abbots  and  fathers  of  the  Church.  However 
much  this  detracts  from  its  trustworthiness,  it  is  in- 
valuable for  its  ethnographical  data,  and  as  the  only 
extant  history  of  the  expedition,  the  greatest  miracle 
of  all  still  remaining,  that  half  a  dozen  unprotected 
men,  ignorant  of  the  languages  of  the  natives  and  of 

1  Naufragios  de  Alvar  Nunez  Cabeza  de  Vaca  en  la  Florida, 
Valladolid,  1555  ;  republished  by  Barcia,  in  the  Historiadores 
Primitives  de  las  Indias  Occidentales,  Tomo  II.,  Madrid, 
1749;  translated  by  Ramusio,  Viaggi,  Tom.  III.,  Venetia, 
1556,  from  which  Purchas  made  his  abbreviated  translation, 
Vol.  IV.,  London,  1624;  translated  entire,  with  valuable 
notes  and  maps  by  Buckingham  Smith,  Washington,  1851. 
French  translation  by  Ternaux-Compans,  Paris,  1837. 
2* 


18  FLORIDIAN  PENINSULA. 

their  proper  course,  should  have  safely  journeyed  three 
thousand  miles,  from  the  bay  of  Apalache  to  Sonora 
in  Mexico,  through  barbarous  hordes  continually  en- 
gaged in  internecine  war.  Of  the  many  eventful 
lives  that  crowd  the  stormy  opening  of  American  his- 
tory, I  know  of  none  more  fraught  with  peril  of 
every  sort,  none  whose  story  is  more  absorbing,  than 
that  of  Cabeza  de  Vaca. 

The  unfortunate  termination  of  Narvaez's  under- 
taking had  settled  nothing.  Tales  of  the  fabulous 
wealth  of  Florida  still  found  credence  in  Spain ;  and 
it  was  reserved  for  Hernando  de  Soto  to  disprove  them 
at  the  cost  of  his  life  and  fortune.  There  are  extant 
five  original  documents  pertaining  to  his  expedition. 

First  of  these  in  point  of  time  is  his  commission 
from  the  emperor  Charles  V.1 

The  next  is  a  letter  written  by  himself  to  the  Muni- 
cipality of  Santiago,2  dated  July  9,  1539,  describing 
his  voyage  and  disembarkation.  Besides  its  historical 
value,  which  is  considerable  as  fixing  definitely  the 
time  and  manner  of  his  landing,  it  has  additional  in- 
terest as  the  only  known  letter  of  De  Soto ;  short  as 
it  is,  it  reveals  much  of  the  true  character  of  the  man. 
The  hopes  that  glowed  in  his  breast  amid  the  glitter- 
ing throng  on  the  quay  of  San  Lucar  de  Barrameda 
are  as  bright  as  ever :  "  Glory  be  to  God,"  he  exclaims, 

1  Asiento  y  capitulacion  hecho  por  el  capitan  Hernando  de 
Soto,  con  el  Emperador  Carlos  V.,  para  la  Conquista  y  Pob- 
lacion  de  la  Provincia  de  la  Florida,  y  encomienda  de  la  Go- 
bernacion  de  la  Isla  de  Cuba,  1537.     Printed  in  1844,  in  the 
preface  to  the  Portuguese  Gentleman's  Narrative,  by  the  Lis- 
bon Academy  of  Sciences,  from  the  manuscript  in  the  Hydro- 
graphical  Bureau  of  Madrid. 

2  Lettre  ecrite  par  1'Adelantade  Soto,  au  Corps  Municipal 
de  la  Ville  de  Santiago,  de  1'Isle  de  Cuba.      In  Ternaux- 
Compans'  Recueil  des  Pieces  sur  la  Floride. 


LITERARY  HISTORY.  19 

"  every  thing  occurs  according  to  His  will ;  He  seems 
to  take  an  especial  care  of  our  expedition,  which  lives 
in  Him  alone,  and  Him  I  thank  a  thousand  times." 
The  accounts  from  the  interior  were  in  the  highest 
degree  encouraging :  «  So  many  things  do  they  tell  ine 
of  its  size  and  importance,"  he  says,  speaking  of  the 
village  of  Ocala,  "that  I  dare  not  repeat  them." 
Blissful  ignorance  of  the  old  cavalier,  over  which 
coming  misfortune  cast  no  presageful  shadow  ! 

The  position  that  Alvar  Nunez  occupied  under 
Narvaez  was  filled  in  this  expedition  by  Luis  Hernan- 
dez de  Biedma,  and  like  Nunez,  he  was  lucky  enough 
to  be  among  the  few  survivors.  In  1544,  shortly  after 
his  .return,  he  presented  the  king  a  brief  account  of  his 
adventures.1  He  dwells  on  no  particulars,  succinctly 
and  intelligibly  mentions  their  course  and  the  princi- 
pal provinces  through  which  they  passed,  and  throws 
in  occasional  notices  of  the  natives.  The  whole  has 
an  air  of  honest  truth,  differs  but  little  from  the  gen- 
tleman of  Elvas  except  in  omission,  and  where  there 
is  disagreement,  Biedma  is  often  more  probable. 

When  the  enthusiasm  for  the  expedition  was  at  its 
height,  and  the  flower  of  Spanish  chivalry  was  hieing 
to  the  little  port  of  San  Lucar  of  Barrameda,  many 
Portuguese  of  good  estate  sought  to  enroll  themselves 
beneath  its  banners.  Among  these,  eight  hidalgos 
sallied  forth  from  the  warlike  little  town  of  Elvas 
(Evora)  in  the  province  of  Alemtejo.  Fourteen  years 
after  the  disastrous  close  of  the  undertaking,  one  of 

1  Relation  de  ce  que  arriva  pendant  le  Voyage  du  Capitaine 
Soto,  et  Details  sur  la  Nature  des  pays  qu'il  parcourut,  par 
Luis  Hernandez  de  Biedma ;  first  printed  in  Ternaux-Com- 
pan's  Recueil;  Eng.  trans,  by  Rye,  appended  to  the  Hackluyt 
Society's  edition  of  the  Portuguese  Gentleman's  Narrative, 
London,  1852. 


20  FLORIDIAN   PENINSULA. 

their  number  published  anonymously  in  his  native 
tongue  the  first  printed  account  of  it.1  Now  which  it 
was  will  probably  ever  remain  an  enigma.  Because 
Alvaro  Fernandes  is  mentioned  last,  he  has  been  sup- 
posed the  author,2  but  unfortunately  for  this  hypothe- 
sis, Alvaro  was  killed  in  Apalache.3  So  likewise  we 
have  notices  of  the  deaths  of  Andres  de  Vasconcelo 
and  Men  Roiz  Pereira  (Men  Rodriguez) ;  it  is  not 
likely  to  have  been  Juan  Cordes  from  the  very  brief 
account  of  the  march  of  Juan  de  Aiiasco,  whom  this 
hidalgo  accompanied ;  so  it  lies  between  Fernando  and 
Estevan  Pegado,  Benedict  Fernandez,  and  Antonio  Mar- 
tinez Segurado.  I  find  very  slight  reasons  for  ascrib- 
ing it  to  either  of  these  in  preference,  though  the  least 
can  be  objected  to  the  latter.  Owing  to  this  uncer- 
tainty, it  is  usually  referred  to  as  the  Portuguese  Gentle- 
man's Narrative.  Whoever  he  was,  he  has  left  us  by 
all  odds  the  best  history  of  the  expedition.  Superior 
to  Biedma  in  completeness,  and  to  La  Vega  in  accu- 

1  Relacao  Verdadeira  dos  Trabalhos  q  ho  Gouernador  do 
Fernado  d'  Souto  y  certos  Fidalgos  Portugueses  passarom  no 
d'  scobrimeto  da  provincia  da  Frolida.     Agora  nouamete  feita 
per  hu  Fidalgo  Deluas,  8vo.,  Evora,  1557;  reprinted,  8vo., 
Lisboa,   1844,  by  the  Academia  Real  das  Sciencias,  with  a 
valuable  preface.     It  was  "contracted"  by  Purchas,  vol.  IV., 
London,  1624  ;  translated  entire  by  Hackluyt,  under  the  title, 
"  Virginia  richly  valued  by  the  Description  of  Florida,  her 
next  Neighbor,"  published  both  separately  and  in  his  Collec- 
tions, vol.  V.,  and  subsequently  by  Peter  Force,  Washington, 
1846,  and  by  the  Hackluyt  Society,  with  a  valuable  introduc- 
tion by  J.  T.  Rye,  London,  1852 ;  another  "  very  inferior" 
translation  from  the  French,  London,  1686.     French  trans, 
by  M.  D.  C.  (M.  de  Citri  de  la  Guette),  12mo.,  Paris,  1685, 
and  again  in  two  parts,  1707-9.     Dutch  trans,  in  Van  der 
Aa's  Collection,  8vo.,  1706,  with  "  schoone  kopere  Platen," 
and  a  map. 

2  Buckingham  Smith,  Translation  of  Cabeza  de  Vaca,  p.  126. 
3Herrera,  Dec.  VII.,  cap.  x.,  p.  16. 


LITERARY  HISTORY.  21 

racy,  of  a  tolerably  finished  style  and  seasoned  with  a 
dash  of  fancy,  it  well  repays  perusal  even  by  the 
general  reader. 

The  next  work  that  comes  under  our  notice  is  in 
some  respects  the  most  remarkable  in  Spanish  Historical 
Literature.  When  the  eminent  critic  and  historian 
Prescott  awarded  to  Antonio  de  Solis  the  honor  of 
being  the  first  Spanish  writer  who  treated  history  as 
an  art,  not  a  science,  and  first  appreciated  the  indisso- 
luble bond  that  should  ever  connect  it  to  poetry  and 
belles-lettres,  he  certainly  overlooked  the  prior  claims 
of  Garcias  Laso  or  Garcilasso  de  la  Vega.  Born  in 
Cusco  in  the  year  1539,1  claiming  by  his  mother  the 
regal  blood  of  the  Incas,  and  by  his  father  that  of  the 
old  Spanish  nobility,  he  received  a  liberal  education 
both  in  Peru  and  Spain.  With  a  mind  refined  by 
retirement,  an  imagination  attuned  by  a  love  of  poetry 
and  the  drama,  and  with  a  vein  of  delicate  humor,  he 
was  eminently  qualified  to  enter  into  the  spirit  of  an 
undertaking  like  De  Soto's.  His  Conquest  of  Florida3 

1  Ticknor,  in  his  History  of  Spanish  Literature,  says  1540  ; 
the  Biographic  Universelle,  1530 ;  errors  that  may  be  cor- 
rected from  the  Inca's  own  words :  "Yo  nasci  el  ano  mil  y 
quinientes  y  treinta  y  nueve."      Commentarios  Reales,  Parte 
Segunda,  Lib.  II.,  cap.  xxv. 

2  La  Florida  del  Inca ;  Historia  del  Adelantado  Hernando 
de  Soto,  Governador  y  Capitan  General  del  Reino  de  la  Flo- 
rida, y  de  otros  Heroicos  Caballeros,  Espanoles  y  Indies ;  4to, 
Lisbona,  1605;  folio,  Madrid,  1723;  12mo.,   Madrid,  1803. 
French  trans,  by  St.  Pierre  Richelet,  Paris,  1670,  and  1709; 
Leyde,  1731;  La  Haye,  1735;  by  J.  Badouin,  Amsterdam, 
1737.     German  trans,  from   the  French,   by   H.    S.  Meier, 
Zelle,  1753  ;  Nordhausen,  1785.     Fray  Pedro  Abiles  in  the 
Censura  to  the  second  Spanish  edition,  speaks  of  a  garbled 
Dutch  translation  or  imitation,  under  the  title  (I  retain  his 
curious  orthography),  Der  West  Indis  che  Spiegel  Durch  At- 
hanasium  Inga,  Peruan  von  Cusco,  T.  Amsterdam,  by  Broer  Jan- 
sen,  1624. 


22  FLORIDIAN   PENINSULA. 

is  a  true  historical  drama,  whose  catastrophe  proves  it 
a  tragedy.  He  is  said  to  lack  the  purity  of  Mariana, 
and  not  to  equal  De  Solis  in  severely  artistic  arrange- 
ment ;  but  in  grace  and  fascination  of  style,  in  gorgeous 
and  vivid  picturing,  and  in  originality  of  diction — for 
unlike  his  cotemporaries,  La  Vega  modelled  his  ideas 
on  no  Procustean  bed  of  classical  authorship — he  is 
superior  to  either.  None  can  arise  from  the  perusal 
of  his  work  without  agreeing  with  Southey,  that  it  is 
"one  of  the  most  delightful  in  the  Spanish  language/' 
But  when  we  descend  to  the  matter  of  facts  and  figures, 
and  critically  compare  this  with  the  other  narratives, 
we  find  the  Inca  always  gives  the  highest  number, 
always  makes  the  array  more  imposing,  the  battle  more 
furious,  the  victory  more  glorious,  and  the  defeat  more 
disastrous  than  either.  We  meet  with  fair  and  gentle 
princesses,  with  noble  Indian  braves,  with  mighty  deeds 
of  prowess,  and  tales  of  peril,  strange  and  rare.  Yet 
he  strenuously  avers  his  own  accuracy,  gives  with  care 
his  authorities,  and  vindicates  their  veracity.  What 
then  were  these  ?  First  and  most  important  were  his 
conversations  with  a  noble  Spaniard  who  had  accom- 
panied De  Soto  as  a  volunteer.  His  name  does  not 
appear,  but  so  thorough  was  his  information  and  so 
unquestioned-  his  character,  that  when  the  Council 
Royal  of  the  Indies  wished  to  inquire  about  the  expe- 
dition, they  summoned  him  in  preference  to  all  others. 
What  he  related  verbally,  the  Inca  wrote  down,  and 
gradually  moulded  into  a  narrative  form.  This  was 
already  completed  when  two  written  memoirs  fell  into 
his  hands.  Both  were  short,  inelegant,  and  obscure, 
the  productions  of  two  private  soldiers,  Alonso  de 
Carmona  and  Juan  Coles,  and  only  served  to  settle 
with  more  accuracy  a  few  particulars.  Though  the 


LITERARY  HISTORY.  23 

narrative  published  at  Elvas  had  been  out  nearly  half 
a  century  before  La  Vega's  work  appeared,  yet  he  had 
evidently  never  seen  it;  a  piece  of  oversight  less  won- 
derful in  the  sixteenth  century  than  in  these  index  and 
catalogue  days.  They  differ  much,  and  although  most 
historians  prefer  the  less  ambitious  statements  of  the 
Portuguese,  the  Inca  has  not  been  left  without  defenders. 

Chief  among  these,  and  very  favorably  known  to 
American  readers,  is  Theodore  Irving.1  When  this 
writer  was  pursuing  his  studies  at  Madrid,  he  came 
across  La  Vega's  Historia.  Intensely  interested  by 
the  facts,  and  the  happy  diction  in  which  they  were 
set  forth,  he  undertook  a  free  translation ;  but  subse- 
quently meeting  with  the  other  narratives,  modified  his 
plan  somewhat,  aiming  to  retain  the  beauties  of  the 
one,  without  ignoring  the  more  moderate  versions  of 
the  others.  In  the  preface  and  appendix  to  his  His- 
tory of  Florida,  he  defends  the  veracity  of  the  Inca, 
and  exhibits  throughout  an  evident  leaning  toward  his 
ampler  estimates.  His  composition  is  eminently  chaste 
and  pleasing,  and  La  Vega  may  be  considered  fortunate 
in  having  obtained  so  congenial  an  admirer.  Entering 
fully  into  the  spirit  of  the  age,  thoroughly  versed  in 
the  Spanish  character  and  language,  and  with  such 
able  command  of  his  native  tongue,  it  is  to  be  regretted 
that  the  duties  of  his  position  have  prevented  Mr. 
Irving  from  further  labors  in  that  field  for  which  ho 
has  shown  himself  so  well  qualified. 

Many  attempts  have  been  made  to  trace  De  Soto's 
route.  Those  of  Romans,  Charlevoix,  Guillaume  de 
1'Isle  and  other  early  writers  were  foiled  by  their  want 

1  The  Conquest  of  Florida  by  Hernando  de  Soto,  2  vols. 
8vo.,  Philadelphia,  1835 ;  revised  edition,  1  vol.,  8vo.,  New 
York,  1851,  with  a  map  of  De  Soto's  route. 


24  FLORIDIAN  PENINSULA. 

of  correct  geographical  knowledge.1  Not  till  the 
present  century  was  anything  definite  established. 
The  naturalist  Nuttall3  who  had  personally  examined 
the  regions  along  and  west  of  the  Mississippi,  and 
Williams3  who  had  a  similar  topographical  acquaint- 
ance with  the  peninsula  of  Florida,  did  much  toward 
determining  either  extremity  of  his  course,  while  the 
philological  researches  of  Albert  Grallatin  on  the 
Choktah  confederacy4  threw  much  light  on  the  inter- 
mediate portion.  Dr.  McCulloh,5  whose  indefatigable 
labors  in  the  field  of  American  archaeology  deserve 
the  highest  praise,  combined  the  labors  of  his  prede- 
cessors and  mapped  out  the  march  with  much  accuracy. 
Since  the  publication  of  his  work,  Dr.  J.  W.  Monette,6 
Col.  Albert  J.  Pickety  Alexander  Meek,8  Theodore 
Irving,9  Charles  Guyarre,10  L.  A.  Wilmer,11  and  others 

1  Charlevoix'  scheme  may  be  found  in  his  Histoire  de  la 
Nouvelle   France  ;  De  1'Isle's  in  the  fifth  volume  of  the  Voy- 
ages au  Nord,  and  in  his  Atlas  Nouveau  ;  Romans'  is  quoted 
by  Warden  in  the  Chronologic  Historique  de  1'Amerique ;    all 
in  the  first  half  of  the  eighteenth  century. 

2  Travels  into  the  Arkansa  Territory,  in  1819,  Phila.,  1821. 

3  Natural  and  Civil  Histoi*y  of  Florida. 

4  Transactions  of  the  American  Antiquarian  Society,  vol.  II. 
6  Antiquarian  Researches. 

6  History  of  the  Discovery  and  Settlement  of  the  Valley  of 
the  Mississippi,  New  York,  1846,  vol.  I. 

7  History  of  Alabama,  and  incidentally  of  Georgia  and  Mis- 
sissippi, vol.  I. 

/8  Southern  Monthly  Magazine  and  Review  for  Jan.,  1839. 
9  History  of  the  Conquest  of  Florida. 

10  History  of  Louisiana. 

11  Life,  Travels,  and  Adventures  of  Ferdinand  de  Soto,  8vo., 
Philadelphia,  1858;    an   excellent    popular   compend. — Mr. 
Schoolcraft,  in  the  third  volume  of  the  History  of  the  Indian 
Tribes,  has  described  from  personal  examination  the  coun- 
try in  the  vicinity  of  the  Ozark  mountains,  with  reference  to 
the  westernmost  portion  of  De  Soto's  route. 


LITERARY  HISTORY.  25 

have  bestowed  more  or  less  attention  to  the  question. 
A  very  excellent  resume  of  most  of  their  labors,  with 
an  accompanying  map,  is  given  by  Rye  in  his  introduc- 
tion to  the  Hackluyt  Society's  edition  of  the  Portuguese 
Gentleman's  Narrative,  who  also  adds  a  tabular  com- 
parison of  the  statements  of  this  and  La  Vega's 
account. 

From  the  failure  of  De  Soto's  expedition  to  the 
settlement  of  the  French  at  the  mouth  of  the  St. 
John's,  no  very  active  measures  were  taken  by  the 
Spanish  government  in  regard  to  Florida. 

A  vain  attempt  was  made  in  1549  by  some  zealous 
Dominicans  to  obtain  a  footing  on  the  Gulf  coast.  A 
record  of  their  voyage,  written  probably  by  Juan  de 
Arana,  captain  of  the  vessel,  is  preserved;1  it  is  a 
confused  account,  of  little  value. 

The  Compte-llendu  of  Guido  de  las  Bazares,3  who 
explored  Apalache  Bay  (Bahia  de  Miruelo)  in  1559, 
to  which  is  appended  an  epitome  of  the  voyage  of 
Angel  de  Villafane  to  the  coasts  of  South  Carolina  in 
1561,  and  a  letter  from  the  viceroy  of  New  Spain3 
relating  to  the  voyage  of  Tristan  de  Arellano  to 
Pensacola  Bay  (Santa  Maria  de  Galve),  are  of  value 
in  verifying  certain  important  dates  in  the  geographical 
history  of  our  country ;  and  as  they  indicate,  contrary 

1  Relation  de  la  Floride  pour  1'  Illustrissime  Seigneur,  Vice 
Roi  de  la  Nouvelle  Espagne,  apporte*  par  Frere  Gregorio  de 
Beteta  ;  in  Ternaux-Compans'  Recueil. 

2  Compte  Rendu  par  Guido  de  las  Bazares,  du  voyage  qu'il 
fait  pour  decouvrir  les  ports  et  les  baies  qui  sont  sur  la  cote 
de  la  Floride ;  in  Ternaux-Compans'  Recueil. 

3  Lettre  du  vice-roi  de  la  Nouvelle  Espagne,  Don  Luis  de 
Velasco,  a  sa  Sacre'e  Majest6,  Catholique  et  Royale,  sur  les 
affaires  de  la  Floride.     De  Mexico,    le  24  Septembre,  1559; 
in  Ternaux-Compans'  Recueil. 


26  FLORIDIAN   PENINSULA. 

to  the  assertion  of  a  distinguished  living  historian,1  that 
the  Spaniards  had  not  wholly  forgotten  that  land,  « the 
avenues  to  which  death  seemed  to  guard." 

Much  more  valuable  than  any  of  these  is  the 
memoir  of  Hernando  D'Escalante  Fontanedo.2  This 
writer  gives  the  following  account  of  himself:  born  of 
Spanish  parents  in  the  town  of  Carthagena  in  1538,  at 
the  age  of  thirteen  he  was  sent  to  Spain  to  receive  his 
education,  but  suffering  shipwreck  off  the  Florida 
coast,  was  spared  and  brought  up  among  the  natives, 
living  with  various  tribes  till  his  thirtieth  year. 
He  adds  that  in  the  same  ship  with  him  were  Don 
Martin  de  Guzman,  Hernando  de  Andino,  deputy  from 
Popayan,  Alonso  de  Mesa,  and  Juan  Otis  de  Zarate. 
Now  at  least  one  of  these,  the  last  mentioned,  was 
never  shipwrecked  at  any  time  on  Florida,  and  in  the 
very  year  of  the  alleged  occurrence  (1551)  was 
appointed  captain  in  a  cavalry  regiment  in  Peru,  where 
he  remained  for  a  number  of  years  ;3  nor  do  I  know 
the  slightest  collateral  authority  for  believing  that 
either  of  the  others  suffered  such  a  casuality.  He 
asserts,  moreover,  that  after  his  return  to  Spain  he 
sought  the  post  of  interpreter  under  Aviles,  then 
planning  his  attack  on  the  Huguenots.  But  as  this 
occurred  in  1565,  how  could  he  have  spent  from  his 
thirteenth  to  his  thirtieth  year,  beginning  with  1551, 
a  prisoner  among  the  Indians?  In  spite  of  these 
contradictions,  there  remains  enough  to  make  his 
memoir  of  great  worth.  He  boasts  that  he  could 

1  Bancroft,  History  of  the  United  States,  vol.  I.,  p.  60. 

2  Memoire  sur  la  Floride,  ses  Cotes  et  ses  Habitants,  qu' 
aucun  de  ceux  qui  1'ont  visit£  ont  su  d'eerire  ;  in  Ternaux- 
Compans'  Recueil. 

3  Herrera,  Dec.  VIIL,  lib.  IX.,  cap.  xviii. 


LITERARY  HISTORY.  27 

speak  four  Indian  tongues,  that  there  were  only  two 
with  which  he  was  not  familiar,  and  calls  attention  to 
what  has  since  been  termed  their  "  polysynthetic " 
structure.  Thus  he  mentions  that  the  phrase  se-le-te-ga, 
go  and  see  if  any  one  is  at  the  look-out,  is  compounded 
partially  of  tejihue,  look-out;  "but  in  speaking/'  he 
observes,  "  the  Floridians  abridge  their  words  more  than 
we  do."  Though  he  did  not  obtain  the  post  of  inter- 
preter, he  accompanied  the  expedition  of  Aviles,  and 
takes  credit  to  himself  for  having  preserved  it  from 
the  traitorous  designs  of  his  successful  rival :  « If  I 
and  a  mulatto,"  he  says,  "  had  not  hindred  him,  all  of 
us  would  have  been  killed.  Pedro  Menendez  would 
not  have  died  at  Santander,  but  in  Florida,  where 
there  is  neither  river  nor  bay  unknown  to  me."  For 
this  service  they  received  no  reward,  and  he  complains  : 
"  As  for  us,  we  have  not  received  any  pay,  and  have 
returned  with  broken  health ;  we  have  gained  very 
little  therefore  in  going  to  Florida,  where  we  received 
no  advancement."  Munoz  appended  the  following 
note  to  this  memoir :  "  Excellent  account,  though  of  a 
man  unaccustomed  to  writing,  which  is  the  cause  of 
the  numerous  meaningless  passages  it  contains." 
Ternaux-Compans  adds:  " Without  finding,  as  Munoz, 
this  account  excellent,  I  thought  it  best  to  insert  it 
here  as  containing  valuable  notices  of  the  geography 
of  Florida.  It  is  often  unintelligible;  and  notwithstand- 
ing all  the  pains  I  have  taken  in  the  translation,  I 
must  beg  the  indulgence  of  the  reader."  The  geo- 
graphical notices  are  indeed  valuable,  particularly  in 
locating  the  ancient  Indian  tribes.  The  style  is  crude 
and  confused,  but  I  find  few  passages  so  unintelligible 
as  not  to  yield  to  a  careful  study  and  a  comparison 
with  cotemporary  history.  The  memoir  is  addressed, 


28  FLORIDIAN   PENINSULA. 

"  Tres  puissant  Seigneur,"  and  was  probably  intended 
to  get  its  author  a  position.  The  date  of  writing  is 
nowhere  mentioned,  but  as  it  was  not  long  after  the 
death  of  Aviles  (1574),  we  cannot  be  far  wrong  in 
laying  it  about  1580. 


§  2.— THE  FRENCH  COLONIES.     1562-1567. 

Several  distinct  events  characterize  this  period  of 
Floridian  history.  The  explorations  and  settlements 
of  the  French,  their  extirpation  by  the  Spaniards  and 
the  founding  of  St.  Augustine,  the  retaliation  of  De 

Gourgues ,  as  they  constitute  separate  subjects  of 

investigation,  so  they  may  be  assumed  as  nuclei  around 
which  to  group  extant  documents.  Compendiums  of 
the  whole  by  later  writers  form  an  additional  class. 

First  in  point  of  time  is  Jean  Ribaut's  report  to 
Admiral  Coligny.  This  was  never  printed  in  the 
original,  but  by  some  chance  fell  into  the  hands  of  an 
Englishman,  who  published  it  less  than  ten  months 
after  its  writer's  return.1  «  The  style  of  this  transla- 
tion is  awkward  and  crude,  but  the  matter  is  valuable, 
embracing  many  particulars  not  to  be  found  in  any 
other  account;  and  it  possesses  a  peculiar  interest  as 

1  The  -whole  and  true  Discoverye  of  Terra  Florida,  (En- 
glished, The  Flourishing  Land)  conteyning  as  well  the  won- 
derful straunge  Natures  and  Manners  of  the  People,  with  the 
merveylous  Commodities  and  Treasures  of  the  Country ;  as 
also  the  pleasant  Portes  and  Havens  and  Wayes  thereunto, 
never  found  out  before  the  last  year,  1562.  Written  in 
French,  by  Captain  Rlbauld,  the  fyrst  that  whollye  discovered 
the  same,  and  now  newly  set  forthe  in  Englishe,  the  xxx.  of 
May,  1563.  Reprinted  by  Hackluyt,  in  his  small  black  letter 
volume  of  1583,  but  not  in  the  folio  collection. 


LITERARY  HISTORY.  29 

being  all  that  is  known  to  have  come  from  the  pen  of 
Ribault."1 

Rene  Laudonniere,  Ribaut's  companion  and  suc- 
cessor in  command,  a  French  gentleman  of  good  edu- 
cation and  of  cultivated  and  easy  composition,  devotes 
the  first  of  his  three  letters  to  this  voyage.  For  the 
preservation  of  his  writings  we  are  indebted  to  the 
collector  Basanier,  whose  volume  of  voyages  will  be 
noticed  hereafter.  The  two  narratives  differ  in  no 
important  particulars,  and  together  convey  a  satis- 
factory amount  of  information. 

The  second  letter  of  Laudonniere,  this  time  chief 
in  command,  is  the  principal  authority  on  the  next 
expedition  of  the  French  to  Florida.  It  is  of  great 
interest  no  less  to  the  antiquarian  than  the  historian, 
as  the  dealings  of  the  colonists  continually  brought 
them  in  contact  with  the  natives,  and  the  position  of 
Laudonniere  gave  him  superior  opportunities  for  study- 
ing their  manners  and  customs.  Many  of  his  descrip- 
tions of  their  ceremonies  are  as  minute  and  careful 
as  could  be  desired,  though  while  giving  them  he 
occasionally  pauses  to  excuse  himself  for  dealing  with 
such  trifles. 

Besides  this,  there  is  a  letter  from  a  volunteer  of 
Rouen  to  his  father,  without  name  or  date.3  Inte- 
rior evidence,  however,  shows  it  was  written  during 
the  summer  of  1564,  and  sent  home  by  the  return 
vessels  which  left  Florida  on  the  28th  July  of  that 

1  Jared  Sparks,  Life  of  Jean  Ribault,  American  Biography, 
vol.  VII.,  p.  147.^ 

2  Coppie  d'vne  Lettre  venant  de  la  Floride,  envoye'e  a  Rouen, 
et  depuis  au  Seigneur  d'Eueron,  ensemble  le  Plan  et  Por- 
traict  du  Fort  que  les  Fran£ois  y  ont  faict.     Paris,  1565; 
reprint,  without  the  "Plan  et  Portraict,"  in  Ternaux  Coin- 
pans'  Recueil 

3* 


30  FLORIDIAN  PENINSULA. 

year.  This  was  the  earliest  account  of  the  French 
colony  printed  on  the  continent.  Its  contents  relate 
to  the  incidents  of  the  voyage,  the  manners  of  the 
"sauvages,"  and  the  building  of  the  fort,  with  which 
last  the  troops  were  busied  at  the  time  of  writing. 

This  and  Bibaut's  report  made  up  the  scanty  know- 
ledge of  the  colonies  of  Coligny  to  be  found  in  Europe 
up  to  the  ever  memorable  year  1565;  memorable  and 
infamous  for  the  foulest  crime  wherewith  fanaticism 
had  yet  stained  the  soil  of  the  New  World;  memor- 
able and  glorious,  for  in  that  year  the  history  of  our 
civilization  takes  its  birth  with  the  first  permanent 
settlement  north  of  Mexico.  Two  nations  and  two 
religions  came  into  conflict.  Fortunately  we  are  not 
without  abundant  statements  on  each  side.  Five  eye- 
witnesses lived  to  tell  the  world  the  story  of  fiendish 
barbarity,  or  divine  Nemesis,  as  they  variously  viewed  it. 

On  the  former  side,  the  third  and  last  letter  of 
Laudonniere  is  a  brief  but  interesting  record.  Simple, 
straightforward,  it  proves  him  a  brave  man  and  worthy 
Christian.  He  lays  much  blame  on  the  useless  delay 
of  Ribaut,  and  attributes  to  it  the  loss  of  Florida. 

Much  more  complete  is  the  pleasing  memoir  of  N. 
C.  Challeux  (Challus,  Challusius.)1  He  tells  us  in 
his  dedicatory  epistle  that  he  was  a  native  of  Dieppe, 
a  carpenter  by  trade,  and  over  sixty  years  of  age  at 
the  time  of  the  expedition.  In  another  passage  he 

1  Histoire  Memorable  du  dernier  Voyage  aux  Indes,  Lieu 
appellee  la  Floride,  fait  par  le  capitaine  Jean  Ribaut  et  entre- 
pris  par  comandement  du  Roi  en  Tan  1565,  Lyons,  1566 ; 
another  edition  at  Dieppe  the  same  year,  with  the  title  "Dis- 
cours  de  1'Histoire  de  la  Floride,"  &c.  Sparks  says,  "  At 
least  three  editions  were  published  the  same  year."  Ter- 
naux-Compans  republished  the  Lyons  edition  in  his  Recueil, 
which  differs  somewhat  from  that  of  Dieppe. 


LITERARY  HISTORY.  31 

remarks,  "  Old  man  as  I  am,  and  all  grey."1  He  es- 
caped with  Laudonniere  from  Fort  Caroline,  and 
depicts  the  massacre  and  subsequent  events  with  great 
truth  and  quaintness.  He  is  somewhat  of  a  poet, 
somewhat  of  a  scholar,  and  not  a  little  of  a  moralizer. 
At  the  beginning  of  the  first  edition  are  verses  descrip- 
tive of  his  condition  after  his  return,  oppressed  by 
poverty,  bringing  nought  from  his  long  rovings  but 
"  a  beautiful  white  staff  in  his  hand."  «  The  volume 
closes  with  another  effusion  of  his  muse,  expressing  the 
joy  he  felt  at  again  beholding  his  beloved  city  of 
Dieppe."2  He  is  much  given  to  diverging  into  prayers 
and  pious  reflections  on  the  ups  and  downs  of  life,  the 
value  of  contentment,  and  kindred  subjects,  seasoning 
his  lucubrations  with  classical  allusions. 

When  Laudonniere  was  making  up  the  complement 
of  his  expedition  he  did  not  forget  to  include  a  cun- 
ning limner,  so  that  the  pencil  might  aid  the  pen  in 
describing  the  marvels  of  the  New  World  he  was 
about  to  visit.  This  artist,  a  native  of  Dieppe,  Jac- 
ques le  Moyne  de  Morgues  by  name,  escaped  at  the 
massacre  by  the  Spanish,  returned  with  Laudonniere, 
and  with  him  left  the  ship  when  it  touched  the  coast 
of  England.  Removing  to  London  he  there  married, 
and  supported  himself  by  his  profession.  During  the 
leisure  hours  of  his  after  years  he  sketched  from 
memory  many  scenes  from  his  voyage,  adding  in  his 
native  language  a  brief  description  of  each,  aiding  his 
recollection  by  the  published  narratives  of  Challeux 

1  "  Pour  vieillard  que  je  suis  et  tout  gris ;"  Sparks,  mis- 
taking the  last  word  for  gros,  rather  ludicrously  translates 
this,  "  Old  man  as  he  was  and  very  corpulent." — Life  of  Jean 
Ribault,  p.  148. 

2  Sparks,  ibid.,  p.  149. 


32  FLORIDIAN  PENINSULA. 

and  Laudonnie"re,  duly  acknowledging  his  indebted- 
ness.1 These  paintings  were  familiar  to  Hackluyt, 
who  gives  it  as  one  reason  for  translating  the  collec- 
tion of  Basanier,  that  the  exploits  of  the  French,  "  and 
diver  other  things  of  chiefest  importance  are  lively 
drawn  in  colours  at  your  no  smal  charges  by  the 
skillful  painter  James  Morgues,  sometime  living  in 
the  Blackfryers  in  London/'2  When  the  enterprising 
engraver  De  Bry  came  to  London  in  1587,  intent  on 
collecting  materials  for  his  great  work  the  Peregrina- 
tionesj  he  was  much  interested  in  these  sketches,  and 
at  the  death  of  the  artist,  which  occurred  about  this 
time,  obtained  them  from  his  widow  with  their 
accompanying  manuscripts.  They  are  forty-three  in 
number,  principally  designed  to  illustrate  the  life  and 
manners  of  the  natives,  and,  with  a  map,  make  up 
the  second  part  of  De  Bry's  collection.  Each  one  is 
accompanied  by  a  brief,  well-written  explanation  in 
Latin,  and  at  the  close  a  general  narrative  of  the 
expedition ;  together,  they  form  a  valuable  addition  to 
our  knowledge  of  the  aboriginal  tribes  and  the  pro- 
ceedings of  the  Huguenots  on  the  Riviere  Mai. 

The  Spanish  accounts,  though  agreeing  as  regards 
the  facts  with  those  of  their  enemies,  take  a  very  dif- 
ferent theoretical  view.  In  them,  Aviles  is  a  model  of 
Christian  virtue  and  valor,  somewhat  stern  now  and 
then,  it  is  true,  but  not  more  so  than  the  Church  per- 
mitted against  such  stiff  necked  heretics.  The  mas- 
sacre of  the  Huguenots  is  excused  with  cogent  reason- 

1  Brevis  Narratio  eorum  quse  in  Florida  Americre  Provin- 
cia,  Gallis  acciderunt,  secunda  in   illam  Navigatione,   Duce 
Renato  de  Laudonniere  Classis  praefecto :  Anno  MDLXII1L, 
Francofurti  ad  Moenum,  1591. 

2  Epistle  Dedicatorie,  Vol.  III.,  p.  364. 


LITERARY  HISTORY.  33 

ing ;  indeed,  what  need  of  any  excuse  for  exterminating 
this  nest  of  pestilent  unbelievers?  Could  they  be 
ignorant  that  they  were  breaking  the  laws  of  nations 
by  settling  on  Spanish  soil  ?  The  Council  of  the 
Indies  argue  .the  point  and  prove  the  infringement  in  a 
still  extant  documents  Did  they  imagine  His  Most 
Catholic  Majesty  would  pass  lightly  by  this  taunt  cast 
in  the  teeth  of  the  devoutest  nation  of  the  world  ? 

The  best  known  witness  on  their  side  is  Don  Solis 
de  Meras.  His  Memorial  de  todas  las  Jornadas  y 
JSucesos  del  Adelantado  Pedro  Menendez  de  A.viles, 
has  never  been  published  separately,  but  all  the  perti- 
nent portions  are  given  by  Barcia  in  the  Ensayo  Cro- 
nologico  para  la  Historia  de  la  Florida,  with  a  scru- 
pulous fidelity  (sin  abreviar  su  'contexto,  ni  mudar  su 
estilo).  It  was  apparently  written  for  Aviles,  from  the 
archives  of  whose  family  it  was  obtained  by  Barcia. 
It  is  an  interesting  and  important  document,  the  work 
of  a  man  not  unaccustomed  to  using  the  pen. 

Better  than  it,  however,  and  entering  more  fully 
into  the  spirit  of  the  undertaking,  is  the  memoir  of 
Lopez  de  Mendoza  Grajales,2  chaplain  to  the  expedition, 
and  a  most  zealous  hater  of  heretics.  He  does  not  aim 
at  elegance  of  style,  for  he  is  diffuse  and  obscure,  nor 
yet  at  a  careful  historical  statement,  for  he  esteems 


1  This  seems  to  have  escaped  the  notice  of  Mr.  Sparks.     It 
is   in   Ternaux-Compans'  Recueil  des  Pieces   sur  la  Floride, 
appended  to  the  Compte-Rendu  of  Guido  de  las  Bazares,  with- 
out a  distinct  title. 

2  Memoire   de  1'heureux   resultat  et  du  bon  Voyage    que 
Dieu  notre  Seigneur  a  bien  voulu  accorde^  a  la  flotte  qui 
partit  de  la  Ville  de  Cadiz  pour  se  rendre  a  la  Cote  et  dans  la 
Province  de  la  Floride,  et  dont  dtait  ge'ne'ral  1'illustre  Seig- 
neur   Pedro   Menendez   de    Aviles;    in    Ternaux-Compans' 
Recueil. 


34  FLORIDIAN   PENINSULA. 

lightly  common  facts,  but  he  does  strive  to  show  how 
the  special  Providence  of  Grod  watched  over  the  enter- 
prise, how  divers  wondrous  miracles  were  at  once  proof 
and  aid  of  the  pious  work,  and  how  in  sundry  times 
and  places  God  manifestly  furthered  the  holy  work  of 
bloodshed.  A  useful  portion  of  his  memoir  is  that  in 
which  he  describes  the  founding  of  St.  Augustine, 
entering  into  the  movements  of  the  Spaniards  with 
more  detail  than  does  the  last-mentioned  writer. 

When  the  massacre  of  the  19th  September,  1565, 
became  known  in  Europe,  "the  French  were  won- 
drously  exasperated  at  such  cowardly  treachery,  such 
detestable  cruelty."1  Still  more  bitterly  were  they 
aroused  when  they  learned  the  inexcusable  butchery 
of  Ribaut  and  his  men.  These  had  been  wrecked  on 
the  Floridian  shore,  and  with  difficulty  escaped  the 
waves  only  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  more  fell  destroyers 
on  land.  When  this  was  heard  at  their  homes,  their 
"  widows,  little  orphan  children,  and  their  friends,  rela- 
tives and  connections/'  drew  up  and  presented  to  Charles 
IXL.,  a  petition,2  generally  known  as  the  Epistola 

1  "  Les  Frangois  furent  merveilleusement  oultrez  d'une  si- 
lasche  trahison,  et  d'une  si  detestable  cruaulte.    La  Reprinse 
de  la  Floride  ;  Ternaux-Compans'  Recueil,  p.  306. 

2  Une  Requete  au  Roi,  faite  en  forme  de  Complainte  par  les 
Femmes  Veufues,  petits   Enfans  Orphelins,  et  autres   leurs 
Amies,  Parents  et  Alliez,  de  ceux  qui  ont  6te"cruelleinent 
envahis  par  les  Espagnoles  en  la  France  Antharctiques  dite 
la  Floride,  Mai  22,  1566  :  it  is  printed  "in  one  of  the  editions 
of  Challeux  Discours,  and  also  at  the  end  of  Chauveton's 
French  translation  of  Benzoni,  Geneva,  1579.     There  are  two 
Latin  translations,  one  by  Chauveton  appended  to  his  Brevis 
Historia,  and  alfD  to  the  sixth  part  of  I)e  Bry ;  the  other  by 
an  unknown  hand  contained  in  the  second  part.     These  are 
free  translations,  but  they  accord  in  the  essential  points." 
Jared  Sparks,  Appendix  to  Life  of  Ribaut,  American  Biog- 
raphy, vol.  VII.,  pp.  153-4. 


LITERARY  HISTORY.  85 

Supplicaloria,  setting  forth  the  facts  of  the  case  and 
demanding  redress. 

Though  the  weak  and  foolish  monarch  paid  no  marked 
attention  to  this,  a  man  arose  who  must  ever  be  classed 
among  the  heroes  of  history.  This  was  Dominique  de 
Gourgues,  a  high  born  Bourdelois,  who,  inspired  with 
an  unconquerable  desire  to  wreak  vengeance  on  the  per- 
petrators of  the  bloody  deed,  sold  his  possessions,  and 
by  this  and  other  means  raised  money  sufficient  to 
equip  an  expedition.  His  entire  success  is  well  known. 
Of  its  incidents,  two,  histories  are  extant,  both  by  un- 
known hands,  and  both  apparently  written  some  time 
afterwards.  It  is  even  doubtful  whether  either  writer 
was  an  eyewitness.  Both,  however,  agree  in  all  main 
facts. 

The  one  first  written  and  most  complete  lay  a  long 
time  neglected  in  the  Bibliotheque  du  Hoi.1  Within 
the  present  century  it  has  been  twice  published  from 
the  original  manuscript.  It  commences  with  the  dis- 
covery of  America  by  Columbus ;  is  well  composed  by 
an  appreciative  hand,  and  has  a  pleasant  vein  of  philo- 
sophical comment  running  throughout.  The  details  of 
the  voyage  are  given  in  a  careful  and  very  satisfactory 
manner. 

The  other  is  found  in  Basanier,  under  the  title  "Le 
Quatriesme  Voyage  des  Fran§ois  en  la  Floride,  sous  le 
capitaine  Gourgues,  en  Tan  1567;"  and,  except  the 
Introduction,  is  the  only  portion  of  his  volume  not 
written  by  Laudonniere.  By  some  it  is  considered 
merely  an  epitome  of  the  former,  but  after  a  careful 

1  La  Reprinse  de  la  Floride  par  le  capitaine  Gourgues ; 
Revue  Retrospective,  seconde  serie,  Tome  II. ;  Ternaux-Com- 
pans'  Recueil,  The  latter  was  not  aware  of  the  prior  publi- 
cation in  the  Revue. 


36  FLORIDIAN  PENINSULA. 

comparison  I  am  more  inclined  to  believe  it  writen  by 
Basanier  himself,  from  the  floating  accounts  of  his  day 
or  from  some  unknown  relator.  This  seems  also  the 
opinion  of  his  late  editor. 

The  manuscript  mentioned  by  Charlevoix  as  existing 
in  his  day  in  the  family  of  De  Gourgues,  was  either  a 
copy  of  one  of  these  or  else  a  third  of  which  we  have 
no  further  knowledge. 

Other  works  may  moulder  in  Spanish  libraries  on 
this  part  of  our  narrative.  We  know  that  Barcia  had 
access  to  certain  letters  and  papers  (Cartas  y  Papeles) 
of  Aviles  himself,  which  have  never  been  published, 
and  possessed  the  original  manuscripts  of  the  learned 
historiographer  Pedro  Hernandez  del  Pulgar,  among 
which  was  a  Historia  de  la  Florida,  containing  an  ac- 
count of  the  French  colonies  written  for  Charles  II. 
But  it  is  not  probable  that  these  would  add  any  nota- 
ble increment  to  our  knowledge. 

The  Latin  tract  of  Levinus  Apollonius,1  of  extreme 
rarity,  a  copy  of  which  I  have  never  seen,  is  probably 
merely  a  translation  of  Challeux  or  Ribaut,  as  no 
other  original  account  except  the  short  letter  sent  to 
Rouen  had  been  printed  up  to  the  date  of  its  publica- 
tion. This  Apollonius,  whose  real  name  does  not 
appear,  was  a  German,  born  near  Bruges,  and  died  at 
the  Canary  Islands  on  his  way  to  America.  He  is 
better  known  as  the  author  of  De  Peruvian  Inventione, 
Libri  V.,  Antwerpise,  1567,2  a  scarce  work,  not  with- 
out merit.  On  the  fly-leaf  of  the  copy  in  the  Yale 
College  library  is  the  following  curious  note  : 

1  De  Navigatione  Gallorum  in  Terrain  Floridam,  deque  clade 
an.  1565  ab  Hispanis  accepta.    Antwerpiae,  1568,.  8vo.  Barcia 
erroneously  adds  a  second  edition  of  1583. 

2  Rich  (Bibliotheca  Americana)  incorrectly  states  1565. 


LITERARY  HISTORY.  37 

"  Struvius  in  Bibl.  Antiq.  hunc  librum  laudibus 
affert ;  et  inter  raros  adnumerant  David  Clement,  Bibl. 
Curieuse,  Tom.  I. ;  pag;  403,  Jo.  Vogt,  Catal ;  libror; 
rarior;  pag;  40,  Freytag  in  Analec ;  Literar;  pag; 
31." 

Some  hints  of  the  life  of  Levinus  may  be  found  in 
his  Epistola  Nuncupatoria  to  this  work,  and  there  is  a 
scanty  article  on  him  in  the  Biographic  Universelle. 

A  work  of  somewhat  similar  title1  was  published  in 
1578  by  Vignon  at  Geneva  appended  to  Urbain  Chau- 
vetou's  (Urbanus  Calveton's)  Latin  translation  of  Ben- 
zoni.  It  is  hardly  anything  more  than  a  translation 
of  Challeux,  whom  indeed  Chauveton  professes  to  fol- 
low, with  some  details  borrowed  from  Andre  Thevet 
which  the  latter  must  have  taken  from  the  MSS.  of 
Laudonniere.  The  first  chapter  and  two  paragraphs  at 
the  end  are  his  own.  In  the  former  he  says  "  he  had 
been  .chiefly  induced  to  add  this  short  history  to  Ben- 
zoni's  work,  in  consequence  of  the  Spaniards  at  the 
time  perpetrating  more  atrocious  acts  of  cruelty  in  the 
Netherlands  than  they  had  ever  committed  upon  the 


Items  of  interest  are  also  found  in  the  general  his- 
tories of  De  Thou,  (Thuanus,)  a  cotemporary,  of 
L'Escarbot,  of  Charlevoix,  and  other  writers. 

In  our  own  days,  what  the  elegant  pen  of  Theodore 
Irving  has  accomplished  for  the  expedition  of  De  Soto, 
has  been  done  for  the  early  settlements  on  the  St. 

1  De  Gallorum  Expeditione  in  Floridam  et  clade  ab'Hispanis 
non  minus  iniuste  quam  immaniter  ipsis  illata,  Anno  MDLXV. 
Brevis  Historia ;  Calveton,  Novae  Novi  Orbis  Histories,  Ge- 
neva), 1578;  De  Bry,  Peregrinationes,  Pars  VI. ;  French  trans, 
in  Chauveton's  French  trans,  of  Benzoni,  1579.  For  the 
notice  of  this  work  I  am  principally  indebted  to  Sparks. 
4 


38  FLORIDIAN  PENINSULA. 

Johns  by  the  talented  author  of  the  Life  of  Ribault.1 
He  has  no  need  of  praise,  whose  unremitting  industry 
and  tireless  endeavors  to  preserve  the  memory  of  their 
forefathers  are  so  well  known  and  justly  esteemed  by 
his  countrymen  as  Jared  Sparks.  With  what  thorough- 
ness and  nice  discrimination  he  prosecutes  his  re- 
searches can  only  be  fully  appreciated  by  him  who  has 
occasion  to  traverse  the  same  ground.  His  work  is 
one  of  those  finished  monographs  that  leave  nothing  to 
be  desired  either  as  respects  style  or  facts  in  the  field 
to  which  it  is  devoted — a  field  "  the  most  remarkable 
in  the  early  history  of  that  part  of  America,  now  in- 
cluded in  the  United  States  and  Canada,  as  well  in 
regard  to  its  objects  as  its  incidents."  Appended  to 
the  volume  is  an  "Account  of  the  Books  relating  to 
the  Attempts  of  the  French  to  found  a  Colony  in 
Florida."  The  reader  will  have  seen  that  this  has 
been  of  service  to  me  in  preparing  the  analogous  por- 
tion of  this  essay ;  and  I  have  had  the  less  hesitation 
in  citing  Mr.  Sparks'  opinions,  from  a  feeling  of  entire 
confidence  in  his  judgment. 

Before  closing  these  two  periods  of  bibliographical 
history,  the  labors  of  the  collectors  Basanier  and  Ter- 
naux  Compans,  to  whom  we  owe  so  much,  should  not 
pass  unnoticed.  The  former  is  the  editor  of  the  let- 
ters of  Laudonniere,  three  in  number,  describing  the 
voyage  of  Kibaut,  the  building  of  Fort  Caroline,  and 
its  destruction  by  the  Spaniards,  to  which  he  adds  an 
introduction  on  the  manners  and  customs  of  the  In- 
dians, also  by  Laudonniere,  and  an  account  of  the 

1  Life  of  John  Ribault,  comprising  an  account  of  the  first 
Attempts  of  the  French  to  found  a  Colony  in  North  America, 
Boston,  1845  ;  in  Vol.  VII.  of  Sparks'  American  Biography. 


LITERAEY  HISTORY.  39 

voyage  of  De  Gourgues.1  In  this  he  was  assisted  by 
Hackluyt,  who  speaks  of  him  as  "  my  learned  friend 
M.  Martine  Basanier  of  Paris/'  and  who  translated 
and  published  his  collection  the  year  after  its  first 
appearance.  Little  is  known  of  Basanier  personally ; 
mention  is  made  by  M.  de  Fetis  in  his  Biographie  des 
Musiciens  of  a  certain  Martin  Basanier  who  lived 
about  this  time,  and  is  probably  identical.  In  the 
same  year  with  his  collection  on  Florida  he  published 
a  translation  of  Antonio  de  Espejo's  History  of  the 
Discovery  of  New  Mexico.  The  dedication  of  the 
"  Histoire  Notable"  is  to  the  "  Illustrious  and  Virtu- 
ous Sir  Walter  Raleigh."  According  to  the  custom 
of  those  days,  it  is  introduced  by  Latin  and  French 
verses  from  the  pens  of  J.  Auratus  (Jacques  Dore  ?), 
Hackluyt,  and  Basanier  himself.  As  a  curious  speci- 
men of  its  kind  I  subjoin  the  anagram  of  the  latter  on 
Walter  Raleigh  : 

"WALTER  RALEQH. 
La  vertu  Vha  &  gre. 

En  Walter  cognoissant  la  vertu  s'estre  enclose, 
J'ay  combing  Ralegh,  pour  y  voir  quelle  chose 
Pourroit  a  si  beau  nom  convenir  a  mon  gr6  ; 
J'ay  trouv6  que  c'estoit ;  la  vertu  Vha  a  grZ." 

The  first  edition  is  rare,  and  American  historians  are 

1  L' Histoire  Notable  de  la  Floride  situe'e  es  Indes  Occiden- 
tales  ;  Contenant  les  troys  Voyages  faits  en  icelle  par  certains 
Capitaines  et  Pilotes  Fran9ois,  descritspar  leCapitaineLaudon- 
me>e,  qui  y  a  commande  1'espace  d'un  an  troys  moys ;  a  la- 
quelle  a  est6  adjouste*  un  quatriesme  voyage  par  le  Capitaine 
Gourgues.  Mise  en  lumiere  par  M.  Basanier,  Gentil-homme 
Fran9ois  Mathematicien.  Paris,  1586,  8vo.,  124  pp ;  re- 
printed Paris,  1853,  with  an  Avertissement.  Eng.  trans. 
London,  4to,  1586,  by  R.  H.  (Richard  Hackluyt,)  who  included 
it  in  his  folio  of  1600,  reprinted  in  1812. 


40  FLORIDIAN  PENINSULA. 

under  great  obligations  to  the  Parisian  publishers  for 
producing  a  second,  and  for  preserving  the  original 
text  with  such  care. 

The  labors  of  Ternaux  Compans  throughout  the  en- 
tire domain  of  early  American  history,  his  assiduity 
in  collecting  and  translating  manuscripts,  and  in  repub- 
lishing  rare  tracts,  are  too  well  known  and  generally 
appreciated  to  need  special  comment.  Among  his 
volumes  there  is  one  devoted  to  Florida,  containing 
eleven  scarce  or  inedited  articles,  all  of  which  are  of 
essential  importance  to  the  historian.1  These  have 
been  separately  considered  previously,  in  connection 
with  the  points  of  history  they  illustrate. 

§3. — THE  FIRST  SPANISH  SUPREMACY.    1567-1763. 

After  the  final  expulsion  of  the  French,  Spain  held 
the  ascendancy  for  nearly  two  hundred  years.  Her 
settlements  extended  to  the  south  and  west,  the 
natives  were  generally  tractable,  and  at  one  period 
the  colony  flourished ;  yet  there  is  no  more  obscure 
portion  of  the  history  of  the  region  now  included  in 
the  United  States.  Except  the  Chronological  Essay 
of  Barcia,  which  extends  over  only  a  fraction  of  this 
period,  the  accounts  are  few  in  number,  meagre  in 
information,  and  in  the  majority  of  instances,  quite 
inaccessible  in  this  country. 

The  verbal  depositions  of  Pedro  Morales  and  Nicolas 
Bourguignon,2  captives  brought  by  Sir  Francis  Drake 

1  Voyages,  Relations,  et  Memoires  Originaux  pour  servir  a 
1'Histoire  del'Amerique;  seconde  se'rie;  Recueil  des  Pieces 
sur  la  Floride,  Paris,  1841. 

2  The  Relation  of  Pedro  Morales,  a  Spanyard  which  Sir 
Francis  Drake  brought  from  St.  Augustines  in  Florida,  where 


LITERARY  HISTORY.  41 

to  London,  from  his  attack  on  St.  Augustine,  (1586,) 
arc  among  the  earliest  notices  we  possess.  They  were 
written  out  by  Richard  Hackluyt,  and  inserted  in  his 
collection  as  an  appendix  to  Drake's  Voyage.  Both 
are  very  brief,  neither  filling  one  of  his  folio  pages; 
they  speak  of  the  Indian  tribes  in  the  vicinity,  but 
in  a  confused  and  hardly  intelligible  manner.  Nicolas 
Bourguignon  was  a  Frenchman  by  birth,  and  had  been 
a  prisoner  among  the  Spaniards  for  several  years.  He 
is  the  "Phipher,"  mentioned  in  Drake's  account,  who 
escaped  from  his  guards  and  crossed  over  to  the  En- 
glish, playing  the  while  on  his  fife  the  march  of  the 
Prince  of  Orange,  to  show  his  nationality. 

Towards  the  close  of  the  century,  several  works 
were  published  in  Spain,  of  which  we  know  little  but 
their  titles.  Thus,  mention  is  made  of  a  geographical 
description  of  the  country  (Description  y  Galidades  de 
la  Florida)  by  Barrientes,  Professor  of  the  Latin  lan- 
guage at  the  University  of  Salamanca,  about  1580. 
It  is  probably  nothing  more  than  an  extract  from 
the  Cosmographia,  attributed  by  some  to  this  writer. 
Also,  about  the  same  time,  Augustin  de  Padilla  Davila, 
a  Dominican,  and  Bishop  of  St.  Domingo,  published  an 
ecclesiastical  history  of  the  See  of  Mexico  and  the  pro- 
gress of  the  faith  in  Florida.1  Very  little,  however, 
had  been  achieved  that  early  in  the  peninsular  and 
consequently  his  work  would  in  this  respect  interest 

he  reraayned  sixe  yeeres,  touching  the  state  of  those  partes, 
takea  from  his  mouth  by  Richard  Hackluyt,  1586. 

The  relation  of  Nicholas  Bourgoignon,  alias  Holy,  whom 
Sir  Francis  Drake  brought  from  St.  Augustine,  also  in  Flo- 
rida, where  he  had  remayned  sixe  yeeres,  in  mine  and  Master 
Heriot's  hearing.  Voyages,  Vol.  III.,  pp.  432-33. 

1  Varia    Historia  de  la    Nueya    EspaSa    y  la    Florida; 
Madrid,  1596;  Valladolid,  1634. 
4* 


42  FLORIDIAN   PENINSULA. 

us  but  little.  The  reports  of  the  proceedings  of  the 
Council  of  the  Indies,  doubtless  contain  more  or  less 
information  in  regard  to  Florida;  Barcia  refers  especi- 
ally to  those  published  in  1596. 1 

Early  in  the  next  century  there  appeared  an  account 
of  the  Franciscan  missionaries  who  had  perished  in 
their  attempts  to  convert  the  savages  of  Florida.2  The 
author,  Geronimo  de  Ore,  a  native  of  Peru,  and  who 
had  previously  filled  the  post  of  Professor  of  Sacred 
Theology  in  Cusco,  was,  at  the  time  of  writing,  com- 
missary of  Florida,  and  subsequently  held  a  position 
in  the  Chilian  Church,  (deinde  commissarius  Florida), 
demum  imperialis  civitatis  Chilensis  regni  antistes.)3 
He  was  a  man  of  deep  erudition,  and  wrote  various 
other  works  "very  learned  and  curious,"  (mui  doctos 
y  curiosos.4) 

Pursuing  a  chronological  order,  this  brings  us  to  the 
peculiarly  interesting  and  valuable  literature  of  the 
Floridian  aboriginal  tongues.  Here,  as  in  other  parts 
of  America,  we  owe  their  preservation  mainly  to  the 
labors  of  missionaries. 

As  early  as  1568,  Padre  Antonio  Sedeno,  who  had 
been  deputed  to  the  province  of  Guale,  now  Amelia 
Island,  between  the  mouths  of  the  rivers  St.  Johns  and 
St.  Marys,  drew  up  a  grammar  and  catechism  of  the 
indigenous  language.5  It  was  probably  a  scion  of  the 

1  Cedulas  y  Provisiones  Reales  de  las  Indias ;  Varies  In- 
forraes  y  Consultos  de  differentes  Ministros  sobre  las  Cosas  de 
la  Florida;  4  to  Madrid,  1590. 

2  Relacion  de  los  Martires  que  ha  avido  en  la  Florida ;  4to, 
(Madrid?)  1604. 

3  Nicolas  Antonio,  Bibliotheca  Hispana  Nova,  Tom.  II.,  p. 
43,  and  Compare  "Garcilasso,  Commentarios  Reales,  Parte 
II.,  lib.  VII." 

4  Barcia,  Ensayo  Cronologico,  p.  181. 

5  "En  breve  tiempo  hiz6 (Padre An tonio Sedeflo)  Arte  para 


LITERARY  HISTORY.  43 

Muskohge  family,  but  as  no  philologist  ever  examined 
Sedeiio's  work — indeed,  it  is  uncertain  whether  it  was 
ever  published — we  are  unprepared  to  speak  decisively 
on  this  point. 

The  only  works  known  to  be  in  existence  are  those 
of  Franceso  de  Pareja.1  He  was  a  native  of  the  vil- 
lage of  Aunon,3  embraced  the  Franciscan  theology,  and 
was  one  of  the  twelve  priests  dispatched  to  Florida  by 
the  Royal  Council  of  the  Indies  in  1592.  He  arrived 
there  two  years  afterwards,  devoted  himself  to  con- 
verting the  natives  for  a  series  of  years,  and  about 

aprenderla,  y  Catecismo  para  ensenar  la  Doctrina  Cristiana 
a  los  Indies."  Barcia,  Ensayo  Cronologico,  p.  138.  His 
labors  have  escaped  the  notice  of  Ludewig  in  his  Literature 
of  American  Aboriginal  Languages.  Though  they  are  the 
first  labors,  before  him  the  French  on  the  St.  Lawrence  had 
obtained  lists  of  words  in  the  native  tongue  which  still  remain, 
and  Laudonnie're,  on  the  first  voyage  of  Ribaut,  (1562,)  says 
of  the  Indians  near  the  Savannah  river,  "  cognoissans  1'affec- 
tion  que  j'avois  de  S9avoir  leur  langage,  ils  m'  invitoienfc 
apres  a  leur  dernander  quelque  chose.  Tellement  que  mettant 
par  escrit  les  termes  et  locutions  indiennes,  je  pouvois  en- 
tendre la  plus  grande  part  de  leur  discours.  Hist.  Notable 
de  la  Floride,  p.  29.  Unfortunately,  however,  he  did  not 
think  these  worthy  of  publication. 

1  Confessionario  en  Lengua  Castellana  y  Timuquana.     Im- 
preso  con  licencia  en  Mexico,  en  la  Emprenta  de  la  viuda  de 
Diego  Lopez  Daualos  ;  Ano  de  1613,  12mo.,  238  leaves.     Ni- 
colas Antonio  says  1612,  8vo.,  but  this  is  probably  a  mistake. 

Grarnmatica  de  la  Lengua  Timuquaua,  Svo.,  Mexico,  1614; 
not  mentioned  by  Ludewig. 

Catecismo  y  Examen  para  los  que  comulgan,  8vo.,  Mexico, 
1014 ;  reprinted  "  en  la  imprenta  de  Juan  Ruyz,"  8vo.,  1627. 

2  Ludewig  says  Toledo ;  Torquemada  calls  him  "  Natural 
de   Castro-Urdiales,"  but   Nicolas   Antonio   says   expressly, 
"  Franciscus   de   Pareja,    Aufionensis    (Toletanae    dioecesis 
Auuon  oppidum  est)."     Bibliotheca  Hispana  Nova,  Tom.  I., 
p.  456.     Besides  this  writer,  see  for  particulars  of  the  life 
of  Pareja,  Torquemada,  Monarquia  Indiana,  Lib.  XIX.,  cap. 
xx  ,  p.  350,  and  Barcia,  Ensayo  Cronologico,  pp.  167,  195^203. 


44  FLORIDIAN  PENINSULA. 

1610  removed  to  the  city  of  Mexico.  Here  he  re- 
mained till  the  close  of  his  life,  in  1638,  (January  25, 
0.  S.,)  occupied  in  writing,  publishing,  and  revising 
a  grammar  of  the  Timuquana  language,  prevalent 
around  and  to  the  north  of  St.  Augustine,  and  devo- 
tional books  for  the  use  of  the  missionaries.  They  are 
several  in  number,  but  all  of  the  utmost  scarcity.  I 
cannot  learn  of  a  single  copy  in  the  libraries  of  the 
United  States,  and  even  in  Europe;  Adelung,  with 
all  his  extensive  resources  for  consulting  philological 
works,  was  obliged  to  depend  altogether  on  the  extracts 
of  Hervas,  who,  in  turn,  confesses  that  he  never  saw 
but  one,  and  that  a  minor  production  of  Pareja.  This 
is  the  more  to  be  regretted,  as  any  one  in  the  slightest 
degree  acquainted  with  American  philology  must  be 
aware  of  the  absolute  dearth  of  all  linguistic  know- 
ledge concerning  the  tribes  among  whom  he  resided. 
His  grammar,  therefore,  is  second  to  none  in  import- 
ance, and  no  more  deserving  labor  could  be  pointed 
out  than  that  of  rendering  it  available  for  the  pur- 
poses of  modern  research  by  a  new  edition. 

A  Doctrina  Cristiana  and  a  treatise  on  the  admin- 
istration of  the  Sacraments  are  said  to  have  been 
written  in  the  Tinqua  language  of  Florida  by  Fray 
Gregorio  Morrilla,  and  published  "  the  first  at  Madrid, 
1631,  and  afterwards  reprinted  at  Mexico,  1635,  and 
the  second  at  Mexico,  1635."1  What  nation  this  was, 
or  where  they  resided  is  uncertain. 

The  manuscript  dictionary  and  catechism  of  the 
Englishman  Andrew  Yito,  "en  Lengua  de  Mariland 
en  la  Florida,"  mentioned  in  Barcia's  edition  of  Pinelo, 
and  included  by  Ludewig  among  the  works  on  the 

1  Ludewig,  Literature  of  American  Aboriginal  Languages, 
p.  242. 


LITERARY   HISTORY.  45 

Timuquana  tongue,  evidently  belonged  to  a  language 
far  to  the  north  of  this,  probably  to  one  spoken  by  a 
branch  of  the  Lenni  Lennapes. 

Throughout  the  seventeenth  century  notices  of  the 
colony  are  very  rare.  Travellers  the  most  persistent 
never  visited  it.  One  only,  Francesco  (Fraa§ois) 
Coreal,  a  native  of  Carthagena  in  South  America, 
who  spent  his  life  in  wandering  from  place  to  place  in 
the  New  World,  seems  to  have  recollected  its  existence. 
He  was  at  St.  Augustine  in  1669,  and  devotes  the 
second  chapter  of  his  travels  to  the  province.1  It  de- 
rives its  value  more  from  the  lack  of  other  accounts 
than  from  its  own  intrinsic  merit.  His  geographical 
notions  are  not  very  clear  at  best,  and  they  are  hope- 
lessly confounded  by  the  interpolations  of  his  ignorant 
editor.  The  authenticity  of  his  production  has  been 
questioned,  and  even  his  own  existence  disputed,  but 
no  reasonable  doubts  of  either  can  be  entertained  after 
a  careful  examination  of  his  work. 

Various  attempts  were  made  by  the  Spanish  to  ob- 
tain a  more  certain  knowledge  of  the  shores  and 
islands  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  during  this  period.  A 
record  of  those  that  took  place  between  1685  and 
16932  is  mentioned  by  Barcia,  but  whether  it  was  ever 
published  or  not,  does  not  appear. 

About  this  time  the  Franciscan  Juan  Ferro  Macuardo 
occupied  the  post  of  inspector  (Visitador  General)  of 

1  Voiages  aux  Indes  Occidentales  ;  traduits  de  1'Espagnol ; 
Amsterdam,  1722.     Dutch   trans,  the  same  year.     Another 
edition  under  the  title,  Recueil  de  Voyages  dans  1'Amerique 
Meridionale,  Paris,  1738,  which  Brunet  does  not  notice. 

2  Relacion  de  los  Viages  que  los  Espafioles   han  hecho  a 
las  Costas  del  Seno  Mexicano  y  la  Florida  desde  el  ano  de 
1685  hasta  el  de  1693,  con  una  nueva  Descripcion  de  sus 
Costas. 


4:6  FLORIDIAN   PENINSULA. 

the  church  in  Florida  under  the  direction  of  the 
bishop  of  Cuba.  Apparently  he  found  reason  to  be 
displeased  with  the  conduct  of  certain  of  the  clergy 
there,  and  with  the  general  morality  of  the  missions, 
and  subsequently,  in  his  memorial  to  the  king,1  han- 
dled without  gloves  these  graceless  members  of  the 
fraternity,  telling  truths  unpleasant  to  a  high  degree. 
In  consequence  of  these  obnoxious  passages,  its  sale 
was  prohibited  by  the  church  on  the  ground  that  such 
revelations  could  result  in  no  advantage.2  Whether 
this  command  was  carried  out  or  not, — and  it  is  said 
to  have  been  evaded — the  work  is  rare  in  the  extreme, 
not  being  so  much  as  mentioned  by  the  most  compre- 
hensive bibliographers.  Its  value  is  doubtless  consid- 
erable, as  fixing  the  extent  of  the  Spanish  settlements, 
at  this,  about  the  most  flourishing  period  of  the 
colony.  The  Respuesta  which  it  provoked  from  the 
pen  of  Francisco  de  Ayeta,  is  equally  scarce. 

The  next  book  that  comes  under  our  notice  we  owe 
to  the  misfortune  of  a  shipwreck.  On  the  «  twenty- 
third  of  the  seventh  month/'  1696,  a  bark,  bound 
from  Jamaica  to  the  flourishing  colony  of  Philadelphia, 
was  wrecked  on  the  Floridian  coast,  near  Santa  Lucea, 
about  27°  8',  north  latitude.  The  crew  were  treated 
cruelly  by  the  natives  and  only  saved  their  lives  by 
pretending  to  be  Spaniards.  After  various  delays  and 
much  suffering  they  prevailed  on  their  captors  to  con- 
duct them  to  St.  Augustine.  Here  Laureano  de 
Torres,  the  governor,  received  them  with  much  kind- 

1  Memorial  en  Dereclio  al  Rei  sobre  la  Visita  a  la  Florida  y 
otras  Cosas,  folio,  Madrid,  1690. 

2  "  Solo  sirven  de  dar  Escandalo  al  Vulgar  en  los  Excesos 
impatados  a  unos  y  otros  Individuos,"  Barcia,  Ensayo  Cliron- 
ologico,  p.  300. 


LITERARY  HISTORY. 

ness,  relieved  their  necessities,  and  furnished  them 
with  means  to  return  home.  Among  the  passengers 
was  a  certain  Jonathan  Dickinson  a  Quaker  resident 
in  Pennsylvania.  On  his  arrival  home,  he  pub- 
lished a  narrative  of  his  adventures,1  that  attracted 
sufficient  attention  to  be  reprinted  in  the  mother 
country  and  translated  into  German.  It  is  in  the 
form  of  a  diary,  introduced  by  a  preface  of  ten  pages 
filled  with  moral  reflections  on  the  beneficence  of  God 
and  His  ready  help  in  time  of  peril.  The  style  is 
cramped  and  uncouth,  but  the  many  facts  it  contains 
regarding  the  customs  of  the  natives  and  the  condition 
of  the  settlement  give  it  value  in  the  eyes  of  the 
historian  and  antiquarian.  Among  bibliopolists  the 
first  edition  is  highly  prized  as  one  of  the  earliest 
books  from  the  Philadelphia  press.  The  printer, 
Reinier  Jansen,  was  "an  apprentice  or  young  man" 
of  William  Bradford,  who,  in  1688,  published  a  little 
sheet  almanac,  the  first  printed  matter  in  the  province.3 
After  his  return  the  author  resided  in  Philadelphia  till 
his  death,  in  1722,  holding  at  one  time  the  office  of 
Chief  Justice  of  Pennsylvania.  He  must  not  be  con- 
founded with  his  better  known  cotemporary  of  the 


1  God's  Protecting  Providence  Man's  Surest  Help  and  De- 
fence, In  the  times  of  the  greatest  difficulty  and  most  Im- 
minent danger,  Evidenced  in  the  Remarkable  Deliverance  of 
divers  Persons  from  the  devouring  Waves  of  the  Sea,  amongst 
•which  they  suffered  Shipwrack,  And  also  from  the  more  cruelly 
devouring  jawes  of  the  inhumane  Cannibals  of  Florida.  Faith- 
fully related  by  one  of  the  Persons  concerned  therein.    Phila- 
delphia, 1699,  1701,  and  a  fourth  edition,  1751.      London, 
1700.     German  trans.    Erstaunliche   Geschichte  des   Schiff- 
bruches    den   einige   Personen   im   Meerbusen   von   Florida 
erlitten,  Frankfort,  1784,  and   perhaps   another   edition  at 
Leipzic. 

2  Thomas,  History  of  Printing  in  America,  vol.  II.  p.  25. 


48  FLORIDIAN  PENINSULA. 

same  name,  staunch  Presbyterian,  and  first  president 
of  the  College  of  New  Jersey,  of  much  renown  in 
the  annals  of  his  time  for  his  fervent  sermons  and 
addresses. 

The  growing  importance  of  the  English  colonies  on 
the  north,  and  the  aggressive  and  irritable  character  of 
their  settlers,  gave  rise  at  an  early  period  of  their  exist- 
ence to  bitter  feelings  between  them  and  their  more 
southern  neighbors,  manifested  by  a  series  of  attacks 
and  reprisals  on  both  sides,  kept  alive  almost  continu- 
ally till  the  cession  to  England  in  1763.  So  much  did 
the  Carolinians  think  themselves  aggrieved,  that  as 
early  as  1702,  Colonel  Moore,  then  governor  of  the 
province,  made  an  impotent  and  ill-advised  attempt  to 
destroy  St.  Augustine;  for  which  valorous  undertaking 
his  associates  thought  he  deserved  the  fools-cap,  rather 
than  the  laurel  crown.  An  account  of  his  Successes,1 
or  more  properly  Misfortunes,  published  in  England  the 
same  year,  is  of  great  rarity  and  has  never  come  under 
my  notice.  Of  his  subsequent  expedition,  undertaken 
in  the  winter  of  1703-4,  for  the  purpose  of  wiping 
away  the  stigma  incurred  by  his  dastardly  retreat, 
so-called,  from  St.  Augustine,  we  have  a  partial  account 
in  a  letter  from  his  own  pen  to  Sir  Nathaniel  Johnson, 
his  successor  in  the  gubernatorial  post.  It  was  pub- 
lished the  next  May  in  the  Boston  News,  and  has  been 
reprinted  by  Carroll  in  his  Historical  Collections.  The 
precise  military  force  in  Florida  at  this  time  may  be 

1  The  Successes  of  the  English  in  America,  by  the  March  of 
Colonel  Moore,  Governor  of  South  Carolina,  and  his  taking 
the  Spanish  Town  of  St.  Augustine  near  the  Gulph  of  Florida. 
And  by  our  English  Fleete  sayling  up  the  Hirer  Darian,  and 
marching  to  the  Gold  Mines  of  Santa  Cruz  de  Cana,  near 
Santa  Maria.  London,  1702  ;  reprinted  in  an  account  of  the 
South  Sea  Trade,  London,  1711.  Bib.  Primer.  Amer. 


LITERARY  HISTORY.  49 

learned  from  the  instructions  given  to  Don  Josef  de  Zu- 
niga,  Governor-General  in  1703,  preserved  by  Barcia. 

Some  years  afterwards  Captain  T.  Nairns,  an  En- 
glishman, accompanied  a  band  of  Yemassees  on  a  slave 
hunting  expedition  to  the  peninsula.  He  kept  a  jour- 
nal and  took  draughts  on  the  road,  both  of  which 
were  in  the  possession  of  Herman  Moll,1  but  they  were 
probably  never  published,  nor  does  this  distinguished 
geographer  mention  them  in  any  of  his  writings  on  his 
favorite  science. 

Governor  Oglethorpe  renewed  these  hostile  demon- 
strations with  vigor.  His  policy,  exciting  as  it  did 
much  odium  from  one  party  and  some  discussion  in 
the  mother  country,  gave  occasion  to  the  publica- 
tion of  several  pamphlets.  Those  that  more  particu- 
larly refer  to  his  expedition  against  the  Spanish,  are 
three  in  number,2  and,  together  with  his  own  letters  to 
his  patrons,  the  Duke  of  Newcastle  and  Earl  of  Ox- 
ford,3 and  those  of  Captain  Mclntosh,  leader  of  the 
Highlanders,  and  for  some  time  a  captive  in  Spain, 
which  are  still  preserved  in  manuscript  in  the  Library 

'  l  See  the  note  on  his  New  Map  of  the  North  Parts  of 
America,  London,  1720,  headed  "Explanation  of  an  Expedi- 
tion in  Florida  Neck  by  Thirty  Three  lamasee  Indians,  Ac- 
company'd  by  Capt.  T.  Nairn." 

2  A  voyage  to  Georgia,  begun  in  the  year  1735,  by  Francis 
Moore;    London,    1741;  reprinted  in  the  Collection  of  the 
Georgia  Historical  Society,  Vol.  I. 

An  Impartial  Account  of  the  Expedition  against  St.  Augus- 
tine under  the  command  of  General  Oglethorpe  ;  8vo.,  Lon- 
don, 1742.  (Rich.) 

Journal  of  an  Expedition  to  the  Gates  of  St.  Augustine  in 
Florida,  conducted  by  General  Oglethorpe.  By  G.  L.  Camp- 
bell;  8vo.,  London,  1744.  (Watts.) 

3  They  are  in  the  Rev.  George  White's  Historical  Collec- 
tions of  Georgia,  pp.  462,  sqq.,  and  in  Harris's  Memorials  ef 
Oglethorpe. 

5 


50  FLORIDIAN  PENINSULA. 

of  the  Georgia  Historical  Society,1  furnish  abundant 
information  on  the  English  side  of  the  question;  while 
the  correspondence  of  Manuel  de  Montiano,  Captain. 
General  of  Florida,  extending  over  the  years  1787-40, 
a  part  of  which  has  been  published  by  Captain  Spraguea 
and  Mr.  Fairbanks,8  but  the  greater  portion  still  remain- 
ing inedited  in  the  archives  of  St.  Augustine,  offers  a 
full  exposition  of  the  views  of  their  opponents. 

A  very  important  document  bearing  on  the  relations 
between  the  rival  Spanish  and  English  colonies,  is  the 
Report  of  the  Committee  appointed  by  the  Commons 
House  of  Assembly  of  Carolina,  to  examine  into  the 
cause  of  the  failure  of  Oglethorpe's  expedition.  In  the 
Introduction4  are  given  a  minute  description  of  the  town, 
castle  and  military  condition  of  St.  Augustine,  and  a  full 
exposition  of  the  troubles  between  the  two  colonies, 
from  the  earliest  settlement  of  the  English  upon  the 
coast.  Coming  from  the  highest  source,  it  deserves 
entire  confidence. 

Besides  these  original  authorities,  the  biographies  of 
Governor  Oglethorpe,  by  W.  B.  0.  Peabody,  in  Sparks' 
American  Biography,  by  Thomas  Spalding,  in  the  pub- 
lications of  the  Georgia  Historical  Society,  and  especially 

1  An  extract  may  be  found  in  Fairbank's  History  and  An- 
tiquities of  St.  Augustine. 

3  History  of  the  Florida  War.     Ch.  viii. 

3  History  of  St.  Augustine.     Ch.  xiv. 

4  Statements   made   in  the   Introduction  to  a  Report   on 
General  Oglethorpe's  Expedition  to  St.  Augustine.     In  B.  R. 
Carroll's  Hist.  Colls,  of  South  Carolina,  Vol.  II.,  New  York, 
1836.      Various  papers  in  the  State  Paper  Office,  London, 
mentioned  in   the  valuable  list  in   the   first  volume  of  the 
Colls,  of  the  S.  Car.  Hist.  Soc.  (Charleston,  1857)  which  fur- 
ther illustrate  this  portion  of  Floridian  history,  I  have,  for 
obvious  reasons,  omitted  to  recapitulate  here. 


LITERARY   HISTORY.  51 

that  by  the  Kev.  T.  M.  Harris,  are  well  worthy  of  com- 
parison in  this  connection. 

In  the  catalogue  of  those  who  have  done  signal  ser- 
vice to  American  history  by  the  careful  collation  of 
facts  and  publication  of  rare  or  inedited  works,  must 
ever  be  enrolled  among  the  foremost  Andres  Gonzales 
Barcia.  His  three  volumes  of  Historiadores  Primitives 
de  las  Indias  Occidentales,  are  well  known  to  every  one 
at  all  versed  in  the  founts  of  American  history.  His 
earliest  work  of  any  note,  published  many  years  before 
this,  is  entitled  A  Chronological  Essay  on  the  History 
of  Florida.1  He  here  signs  himself,  by  an  anagram  on 
his  real  name,  Don  Gabriel  de  Cardenas  z  Cano,  and  is 
often  referred  to  by  this  assumed  title.  In  accordance 
with  Spanish  usage,  under  the  term  Florida,  he  em- 
braced all  that  part  of  the  continent  north  of  Mexico, 
and  consequently  but  a  comparatively  small  portion  is 
concerned  with  the  history  of  the  peninsula.  What 
there  is,  however,  renders  it  the  most  complete,  and 
in  many  cases,  the  only  source  of  information.  The 
account  of  the  French  colonies  is  minute,  but  naturally 
quite  one-sided.  He  is  "  in  all  points  an  apologist  for 
his  countrymen,  and  an  implacable  enemy  to  the  Here- 
tics, the  unfortunate  Huguenots,  who  hoped  to  find  an 
asylum  from  persecution  in  the  forests  of  the  New 
World."2  The  Essay  is  arranged  in  the  form  of  an- 
nals, divided  into  decades  and  years,  (Decadas,  Anos,) 
and  extends  from  1512  to  1723,  inclusive.  Neither 
this  nor  any  of  his  writings  can  boast  of  elegance  of 
style.  In  some  portions  he  is  even  obscure,  and  at 
best  is  not  readable  by  any  but  the  professed  historian. 

1  Ensayo  Cronologico  para  la  Historia  General  de  la  Flo- 
rida, fol.  Madrid,  1723. 

2  Jared  Sparks,  Life  of  Ribaut,  p.  155. 


52  FLORIDIAN  PENINSULA. 

Among  writers  in  our  own  tongue,  for  indefatigability 
in  inquiry,  for  assiduity  in  collecting  facts  and  homeli- 
ness in  presenting  them,  he  may  not  inaptly  be  com- 
pared to  John  Strype,  the  persevering  author  of  the 
Ecclesiastical  Memorials. 

His  work  was  severely  criticised  at  its  appearance  by 
Don  Josef  de  Salazar,  historiographer  royal  to  Philip 
V,  "a  man  of  less  depth  of  research  and  patient  inves- 
tigation than  Barcia,  but  a  more  polished  composer." 
He  was  evidently  actuated  in  part  by  a  jealousy  of  his 
rival's  superior  qualifications  for  his  own  post.  The 
criticism  repays  perusal.  None  of  Salazar's  works  are 
of  any  standing,  and  like  many  another,  he  lives  in 
history  only  by  his  abuse  of  a  more  capable  man. 

In  the  preface  to  his  History  of  Florida,  Mr.  Wil- 
liams informs  us  that  he  had  in  his  possession  "a  rare 
and  ancient  manuscript  in  the  Spanish  language,  in 
which  the  early  history  of  Florida  was  condensed,  with 
a  regular  succession  of  dates  and  events."  He  adds, 
that  the  information  here  contained  about  the  Catholic 
missions  and  the  extent  of  the  Spanish  power  had  been 
"invaluable"  to  him.  If  this  was  an  authentic  manu- 
script, it  probably  dated  from  this  period.  Williams 
obtained  it  from  Mr.  Fria,  an  alderman  of  New  York, 
and  not  understanding  the  language  himself,  had  it 
translated.  It  is  to  be  regretted  that  he  has  not  im- 
parted more  of  the  "invaluable  information"  to  his 
readers.  The  only  passages  which  he  quotes  directly, 
induce  me  to  believe  that  he  was  imposed  upon  by  a 
forgery,  or,  if  genuine,  that  the  account  was  quite 
untrustworthy.  Thus  it  spoke  of  a  successful  expedi- 
tion for  pearls  to  Lake  Myaco,  or  Okee-chobee,  which 
I  need  hardly  say,  is  a  body  of  fresh  water,  where  the 
Mya  margaratifera  could  not  live.  The  extent  of  the 


LITERARY  HISTORY.  53 

Franciscan  missions  is  grossly  exaggerated,  as  I  shall 
subsequently  show.  Rome  at  no  time  chartered  a 
great  religious  province  in  Florida,  whose  principal 
house  was  at  St.  Augustine ;»  nor  does  Mr.  Williams' 
work  exhibit  any  notable  influx  of  previously  unknown 
facts  about  the  native  tribes,  though  he  says  on  this 
point,  his  manuscript  was  especially  copious.  On  the 
whole,  we  need  not  bewail  the  loss,  or  lament  the 
non-publication  of  this  record. 

The  latest  account  of  the  Spanish  colony  during  this 
period,  is  that  by  Captain  Robinson,  who  visited  the 
country  in  1754.  It  is  only  a  short  letter,  and  is 
found  appended  to  Roberts'  History  of  Florida. 

In  the  language  of  the  early  geographers,  however, 
this  name  had  a  far  more  extensive  signification,  and 
many  books  bear  it  on  their  title  pages  which  have 
nothing  to  do  with  the  peninsula.  Thus  an  interest- 
ing tract  in  Peter  Force's  collection  entitled  «  A  Rela- 
tion of  a  Discovery  lately  made  on  the  Coast  of 
Florida,"  is  taken  up  altogether  with  the  shores  of 
South  Carolina.  The  superficial  and  trifling  book  of 
Daniel  Coxe,  insignificant  in  everything  .but  its  title, 
proposes  to  describe  the  Province  "  by  the  Spaniards 
called  Florida/'  whereas  the  region  now  bearing  this 
name,  was  the  only  portion  of  the  country  east  of  the 
Mississippi  and  south  of  the  St.  Lawrence  not  included 
in  the  extensive  claim  the  work  was  written  to  defend. 
In  the  same  category  is  Catesby's  Natural  History  of 
Carolina,  Florida,  and  the  Bahama  Islands.  This  dis- 
tinguished naturalist  during  his  second  voyage  to 
America,  (1722)  spent  three  years  in  Carolina,  "  and 
in  the  adjacent  parts,  which  the  Spaniards  call  Florida, 

1  Nat.  and  Civil  Hist,  of  Fla.,  p.  175. 
5* 


54:  FLORIDIAN   PENINSULA. 

particularly  that  province  lately  honored  with  the  name 
of  Georgia."  How  much  time  he  spent  in  the  penin- 
sula, or  whether  he  was  there  at  all,  does  not  appear. 

§  4.— THE  ENGLISH  SUPREMACY.    1763-1780. 

No  sooner  had  England  obtained  possession  of  her 
new  colony  than  a  lively  curiosity  was  evinced  respect- 
ing its  capabilities  and  prospects.  To  satisfy  this, 
"William  Roberts,  a  professional  writer,  and  author  of 
several  other  works,  compiled  a  natural  and  civil  his- 
tory of  the  country,  which  was  published  the  year  of 
the  cession,  under  the  supervision  of  Thomas  Jefferys, 
geographer  royal.1  It  ran  through  several  editions, 
and  though  it  has  received  much  more  praise  than  is 
its  proper  due,  it  certainly  is  a  useful  summary  of  the 
then  extant  knowledge  of  Florida,  and  contains  some 
facts  concerning  the  Indians  not  found  in  prior  works. 
The  natural  history  of  the  country  is  mentioned  no- 
where out  of  the  title  page ;  the  only  persons  who 
paid  any  attention  worth  speaking  of  to  this  were  the 
Bartrams,  father  and  son.  Their  works  come  next 
under  our  notice. 

John  Bartram  was  born  of  a  Quaker  family  in 
Chester  county,  Pennsylvania,  in  1701.  From  his 
earliest  youth  he  manifested  that  absorbing  love  for  the 
natural  sciences,  especially  botany,  that  in  after  years 
won  for  him  from  no  less  an  authority  than  the  immor- 
tal Linnaeus,  the  praise  of  being  «  the  greatest  botanist 

1  An  Account  of  the  First  Discovery  and  Natural  History 
of  Florida,  with  a  Particular  Detail  of  the  several  Expedi- 
tions made  on  that  Coast.  Collected  from  the  best  Autho- 
rities by  William  Roberts.  Together  with  a  Geographical 
Description  of  that  Country,  by  Thomas  Jefferys.  4to,  Lon- 
don, 1763,  pp.  102. 


LITERARY  HISTORY.  55 

in  the  New  World."  He  was  also  the  first  in  point 
of  time.  Previously  all  investigations  had  been  prose- 
cuted by  foreigners  in  a  vague  and  local  manner. 
Bartrain  went  far  deeper  than  this.  On  the  pleasant 
banks  of  the  Schuylkill,  near  Philadelphia,  he  con- 
structed the  first  botanic  garden  that  ever  graced  the 
soil  of  the  New  World ;  here  to  collect  the  native 
flora,  he  esteemed  no  journey  too  long  or  too  danger- 
ous. After  the  cession,  he  was  appointed  "  Botanist 
to  His  Majesty  for  both  the  Floridas,"  and  though 
already  numbering  over  three-score  years,  he  hastened 
to  visit  that  land  whose  name  boded  so  well  for  his 
beloved  science.  Accompanied  only  by  his  equally 
enthusiastic  son  William,  he  ascended  the  St.  Johns  in 
an  open  boat  as  far  as  Lake  G-eorge,  daily  noting  down 
the  curiosities  of  the  vegetable  kingdom,  and  most  of 
the  time  keeping  a  thermometrical  record.  On  his 
return,  he  sent  his  journal  to  his  friends  in  England 
under  whose  supervision,  though  contrary  to  his  own 
desire,  it  was  published.1  It  makes  a  thin  quarto, 
divided  into  two  parts  paged  separately.  The  first  is 
a  general  description  of  the  country,  apparently  a  re- 
print of  an  essay  by  the  editor,  Dr.  Stork,  a  botanist 
likewise,  and  member  of  the  Eoyal  Society,  who  had 
visited  Florida.  The  second  part  is  Bartram's  diary, 
enriched  with  elaborate  botanical  notes  and  an  Intro- 
duction by  the  editor.  It  is  merely  the  daily  jottings 

1  A  description  of  East  Florida.  A  Journal  upon  a  Journey 
from  St.  Augustine  up  the  River  St.  Johns  as  far  as  the 
Lakes.  4to.,  London,  1766;  17ti9  ;  and  a  third  edition  whose 
date  I  do  not  know,  Numerous  letters  interchanged  between 
John  Bartram  and  Peter  Collinson  relative  to  this  botanical 
examination  of  Florida,  embracing  some  facts  not  found  in 
his  Journal,  are  preserved  in  the  very  interesting  and  valua- 
able  Memorials  of  John  Bartram  and  Humphrey  Marshall  by 
Dr.  Wm.  Darlington,  p.  268,  sqq.  (8vo.  Phila.,  1849.) 


56  FLORIDI  AN  PENINSULA. 

of  a  traveller  and  could  never  have  been  revised  ;  but 
the  matter  is  valuable  both  to  the  naturalist  and 
antiquary. 

The  younger  Bartram  could  never  efface  from  his 
memory  the  quiet  beauty  and  boundless  floral  wealth 
of  the  far  south.  About  ten  years  afterwards  there- 
fore, when  Dr.  Fothergill  and  other  patrons  had  fur- 
nished him  the  means  to  prosecute  botanical  researches 
throughout  the  Southern  States,  he  extended  his  jour- 
ney to  Florida.  He  made  three  trips  in  the  peninsula, 
one  up  the  St.  Johns  as  far  as  Long  Lake,  a  second 
from  "  the  lower  trading  house/7  where  Palatka  now 
stands,  across  the  savannas  of  Alachua  to  the  Suwan- 
nee,  and  another  up  the  St.  Johns,  this  time  ascending 
no  further  than  Lake  George.  The  work  he  left  is  in 
many  respects  remarkable;1  «  it  is  written"  said  Cole- 
ridge "  in  the  spirit  of  the  old  travellers."  A  genuine 
love  of  nature  pervades  it,  a  deep  religious  feeling 
breathes  through  it,  and  an  artless  and  impassioned 
eloquence  graces  his  descriptions  of  natural  scenery, 
rendering  them  eminently  vivid  and  happy.  With  all 
these  beauties,  he  is  often  turgid  and  verbose,  his 
transitions  from  the  sublime  to  the  common-place  jar 
on  a  cultivated  ear,  and  he  is  too  apt  to  scorn  anything 
less  than  a  superlative.  Hence  his  representations 
are  exaggerated,  and  though  they  may  hold  true  to 
him  who  sees  unutterable  beauties  in  the  humblest 
flower,  to  the  majority  they  seem  the  extravaganzas 
of  fancy.  He  is  generally  reliable,  however,  in  regard 


1  Travels  through  North  and  South  Carolina,  Georgia,  East 
and  West  Florida,  and  the  Cherokee  Country,  Phila.,  1791  ; 
1794.  London,  1792  Dublin,  1793.  French  trans,  by  P. 
V.  Benoist,  Voyage  dans  les  Parties  Sud  de  I'Amerique, 
Septentrionale,  Paris,  1801  ;  1807. 


LITERARY  HISTORY.  57 

to  single  facts,  and  as  he  was  a  quick  and  keen  obser- 
ver of  every  remarkable  object  about  him,  his  work 
takes  a  most  important  position  among  our  authorities, 
and  from  the  amount  of  information  it  conveys  respect- 
ing the  aborigines,  is  indispensable  to  the  library  of 
every  Indianologist. 

A  very  interesting  natural  history  of  the  country  is 
that  written  by  Bernard  Romans.1  This  author,  in 
his  capacity  of  engineer  in  the  British  service,  lived  a 
number  of  years  in  the  territory,  traversing  it  in 
various  directions,  observing  and  noting  with  care  both 
its  natural  features  and  the  manners  and  customs  of 
the  native  tribes.  On  the  latter  he  is  quite  copious 
and  is  one  of  our  standard  authors.  His  style  is  dis- 
cursive and  original  though  occasionally  bombastic, 
and  many  of  his  opinions  are  peculiar  and  bold. 
Extensive  quotations  from  him  are  inserted  by  the 
American  translator  in  the  Appendix  to  Volney's 
View  of  the  United  States.  He  wrote  various  other 
works,  bearing  principally  on  the  war  of  independence. 
A  point  of  interest  to  the  bookworm  in  his  History  is 
that  the  personal  pronoun  I,  is  printed  throughout  as 
a  small  letter. 

A  work  on  a  contested  land  title,  privately  printed 
in  London  for  the  parties  interested  about  the  middle 
of  this  period,2  might  possess  some  little  interest  from 
the  accompanying  plan,  but  in  other  respects  is  prob- 
ably valueless.  There  is  a  manuscript  work  by  John 


1  A  Concise  Natural  History  of  East  and  West  Florida. 
New  York  printed :  sold  by  R.  Aitken,  Bookseller,  opposite 
the  London  Coffee-House,  Front  Street,  1776. 

2  The  case  of  Mr.  John  Gordon  -with  respect  to  the  Title  to 
certain  Lands  in  East  Florida,  &c.     With  an  Appendix  and 
Tlan.    4to,  pp.  76,  London,  1772.     (Rich.) 


58  FLORIDIAN   PENINSULA. 

Gerard  Williams  de  Brahm,  preserved  in  the  library  of 
Harvard  College,  which  "  contains  some  particulars  of 
interest  relative  to  Florida  at  the  period  of  the  En- 
glish occupation/'1  Extracts  from  it  are  given  by  Mr. 
Fairbanks,  descriptive  of  the  condition  of  St.  Augus- 
tine from  1763  to  1771,  and  of  the  English  in  the 
province.  This  De  Brahm  was  a  government  surveyor, 
and  spent  a  number  of  years  on  the  eastern  coasts  of 
the  United  States  while  a  British  province. 

Among  the  many  schemes  set  in  motion  for  peopling 
the  colony,  that  of  Lord  Rolls  who  proposed  to  trans- 
port to  the  banks  of  the  St.  Johns  the  cypriennes  and 
degraded  femmes  du  pave  of  London,2  and  that  of  Dr. 
Turnbull,  are  especially  worthy  of  comment.  The 
latter  collected  a  colony  from  various  parts  of  the 
Levant, — from  Greece,  from  Southern  Italy,  and  from 
the  Minorcan  Archipelago — and  established  his  head 
quarters  at  New  Smyrna.  The  heartless  cruelty  with 
which  he  treated  these  poor  people,  their  birth-place 
and  their  fate,  as  well  as  the  fact  that  from  them  most 
of  the  present  inhabitants  of  St.  Augustine  receive 
their  language,  their  character,  and  the  general  name 
of  Minorcans,  have  from  time  to  time  attracted  atten- 
tion to  their  history.  Besides  notices  in  general  works 
on  Florida,  Major  Amos  Stoddard  in  a  work  on  Louis- 
iana3 sketches  the  colony's  rise  and  progress,  but  he  is 
an  inaccurate  historian  and  impeachable  authority.  It 

1  Fairbanks,  Hist,  and  Antiqs.  of  St.  Augustine,  p.  164,  seq. 

2  He  did   not  meet  with   that  success  which   attended   a 
similar    experiment   in  Canada,  so  amusingly  described  by 
Baron  de  La  Hontan.  .  For  some  particulars  of  interest  con- 
sult Bartram,  Travels,  p.  94,  seq.,  Vignoles,  Obs.  on  the  Flo- 
ridas,  p.  73. 

3  Sketches,  Historical  and  Descriptive,  of  Louisiana,  vol.  I, 
8vo.,  Ch.  II.     Philadelphia,  1812. 


LITERARY  HISTORY.  59 

is  the  only  portion  of  his  chapter  on  the  Floridas  of 
any  value.  In  1827,  an  article  upon  them  was  pub- 
lished in  France  by  Mr.  Mease,1  which  I  have  not 
consulted,  and  a  specimen  of  their  dialect,  the  Maho- 
nese,  as  it  existed  in  1843,  in  the  Fromajardis  or 
Easter  Song,  has  been  preserved  by  Bryant,  and  is  a 
curious  relic.2 


§  5. — THE  SECOND  SPANISH  SUPREMACY. 
1780-1821. 

During  this  period  few  books  were  published  on 
Florida  and  none  whatever  in  the  land  of  the  regainers 
of  the  territory.  The  first  traveller  who  has  left  an 
account  of  his  visit  thither  is  Johann  David  Sehiipf,3 
a  German  physician  who  had  come  to  America  in  1777, 
attached  to  one  of  the  Hessian  regiments  in  the  British 
service.  At  the  close  of  the  war  he  spent  two  years 
(1783-4)  in  travelling  over  the  United  States  previous 
to  returning  home,  a  few  weeks  of  which,  in  March, 
1784,  he  passed  in  St.  Augustine.  He  did  not  pene- 
trate inland,  and  his  observations  are  confined  to  a 
description  of  the  town,  its  harbor  and  inhabitants, 

1  Notice   sur  le  Colonie   Greque  Stabile   a  New   Smyrna 
(Floride)  dans  1'ann^e,  1768.  Societe  de  Geographic,  T.  VII., 
p.  31.     (Koner.) 

2  G.  R.  Fairbanks,  Hist,  and  Antiqs.  of  St.  Augustine,  Ch. 
XVIII.     See  also  for  other  particulars,  Bartram,  Travels,  p. 
144,  and  note,  Vignoles,  Obs.  on  the  Floridas,  p.  72,  J.  D. 
Schopf,  Reise---nach,  Ost-Florida,  B.  II.,  s.  363,  367,  seq., 
•who  knew  Turnbull  personally  and  defends  him. 

3  Reise  durch  einige  der  mitlern  und  siidlichen  Vereinigten 
Nordamerikanischen  Staaten  nach  Ost-Florida  und  der  Baha- 
ma-Inseln.     2  Th.,  8vo.,  Erlangen,  1788. 


60  FLORIDIAN   PENINSULA. 

and  some  notices  of  the  botany  of  the  vicinity — for  it 
was  to  natural  history  and  especially  medical  botany 
that  Schopf  devoted  most  of  his  attention  during  his 
travels.  The  difficulties  of  Spain  with  the  United 
States  in  regard  to  boundaries  gave  occasion  for  some 
publications  in  the  latter  country.  As  early  as  1797, 
the  President  addressed  a  message  to  Congress  "  relative 
to  the  proceedings  of  the  Commissioner  for  running 
the  Boundary  Line  between  the  United  States  and 
East  and  West  Florida,"  which  contains  a  resume  of 
what  had  been  done  up  to  that  date. 

Andrew  Ellicott,  Commissioner  in  behalf  of  the 
United  States,  was  employed  five  years  in  determin- 
ing these  and  other  boundaries  between  the  possessions 
of  our  government  and  those  of  His  Catholic  Majesty. 
He  published  the  results  partially  in  the  Transactions 
of  the  American  Philosophical  Society,  and  more  fully 
several  years  afterwards  in  a  separate  volume.1  They 
are  merely  the  hasty  notes  of  a  surveyor,  thrown 
together  in  the  form  of  a  diary,  without  attempt  at 
digestion  or  connection ;  but  he  was  an  acute  and  care- 
ful observer,  and  his  renseigncments  on  the  topography 
of  East  Florida  are  well  worth  consulting.  Among 
the  notable  passages  is  a  vivid  description  of  the 
remarkable  meteoric  shower  of  November  12,  1799, 
which  he  encountered  off  the  south-western  coast  of 
Florida,  and  from  which,  conjoined  with  the  observa- 
tions of  Huinboldt  at  Cumana,  and  others,  the  periodi- 
city of  this  phsenoinenon  was  determined  by  Palmer,  of 
New  Haven. 

1  The  Journal  of  an  Expedition  during  the  years  1796- 
1800,  for  determining  the  Boundaries  between  the  United 
States  and  the  Possessions  of  his  Catholic  Majesty  in 
America,  4to.,  Philadelphia,  1814. 


LITERARY  HISTORY.  61 

A  geographical  account  of  Florida  is  said  to  have 
appeared  at  Philadelphia  about  this  time,  from  the  pen 
of  John  Mellish,1  but  unless  it  forms  merely  a  part  of 
the  general  geography  of  that  author,  I  have  been  able 
to  find  nothing  of  the  kind  in  the  libraries  of  that  city. 

The  article  on  Florida  in  the  important  work  on 
America  of  Antonio  de  Alcedo,3  derives  some  import- 
ance from  the  list  of  Spanish  governors  it  contains, 
which,  however,  is  not  very  perfect;  but  otherwise  is 
of  little  service. 

Serious  difficulties  between  the  Seminole  Indians3 
and  the  whites  of  Georgia,  occurred  at  an  early  date 
in  this  period  arising  from  attempts  of  the  latter  to 
recapture  fugitive  slaves.  These  finally  resulted  in 
the  first  Seminole  war,  and  attracted  the  attention  of 
the  general  government.  The  action  taken  in  respect 
to  it  may  be  found  in  the  Ex.  Doc.  No.  119,  2d  Ses- 
sion, XVth  Congress,  which  contains  "the  official 
correspondence  between  the  War  Department  and 
General  Jackson;  also  that  between  General  Jackson 
and  General  Gaines,  together  with  the  orders  of  each, 
as  well  as  the  correspondence  between  the  Secretary 
of  the  Navy  and  Commodore  Patterson,  and  the  orders 
of  the  latter  officer  to  Sailing-Master  Loomis,  and 
the  final  report  of  Sailing-Master  Loomis  and  General 
Clinch  ;"*  also  in  two  messages  of  the  President 

1  A  Description  of  East  and  West  Florida  and  the  Bahama 
Islands,  1  Vol.  8vo.     Philadelphia,    1813.     (Bib.  Univ.  des 
Voyages.} 

2  Geographical  and  Historical  Dictionary  of  America  and 
the  Westflndies  ;  translated,  with  valuable  additions,  by  Gr.  R. 
Thompson,  5  vols.,  4to,  London,  1812. 

3  An  account  of  this  tribe  by  Major  C.  Swan,  who  visited 
them  in  1791,  has  been  published  by  Schoolcraft  in  the  fifth 
volume  of  the  Hist,  and  Statistics  of  the  Indian  Tribes. 

4  Giddings,  Exiles  of  Florida,  p.  39,  note. 

6 


62  FLOKIDIAN  PENINSULA. 

during  1818,  on  the  Seminole  war,  one  of  which  con- 
tains the  documents  relative  to  Arbuthnot  and  Am- 
bruster,  the  Cherokees,  Chocktaws,  &c.,  and  in  the 
speeches  of  the  Hon.  Robert  Poindexter,  and  others. 
Dr.  Monette  and  Mr.  Giddings,  in  their  historical 
works,  have  also  examined  this  subject  at  some  length. 

Two  accounts  of  the  fillibustering  expeditions  that 
resulted  in  the  forcible  possession  of  Amelia  Island  by 
Captain  MacGregor,  have  been  preserved ;  one,  "  the 
better  of  the  two,"  by  an  anonymous  writer.1  They 
are  both  rare,  and  neither  have  come  "under  my  in- 
spection. 

An  important  addition  to  our  knowledge  of  East 
Florida  during  this  period,  is  contained  in  the  enter- 
taining Letters  of  Dr.  William  Baldwin.1  This  gentle- 
man, a  surgeon  in  the  United  States  Navy,  and  a 
devoted  lover  of  botany,  compelled  to  seek  safety  from 
a  pulmonary  complaint  by  taking  refuge  in  a  warm 
climate  during  the  winter  months,  passed  portions  of 
several  years,  commencing  with  1811,  in  East  Florida 
and  on  the  confines  of  Georgia,  occupying  himself  in 
studying  the  floral  wealth  of  those  regions.  He  re- 
corded his  observations  in  a  series  of  letters  to  Dr. 
Muhlenberg  of  Lancaster,  and  to  the  subsequent  edi- 
tor of  his  Remains,  Dr.  William  Darlington,  of  West 
Chester,  Pa.,  well  known  from  his  works  on  the  local 

1  Narrative  of  a  Voyage  to  the  Spanish  Main  by  the  ship 
Two  Friends,  the  Occupation  of  Amelia  Island  by  McGregor, 
Sketches  of  the  Province  of  East  Florida,  and  Anecdotes  of 
the  Manners  of  the  Seminole  Indians,  8vo.,  London,  1819. 

Memoir  of  Gregor  McGregor,  comprising a  Narrative 

of  the  Expedition  to  Amelia  Island.  By  M.  Kafter.  8vo., 
Stockdale,  1820.  (Rich.) 

2  Reliquiae  Baldwinianse  ;  Selections  from  the  Correspond- 
ence of  the  late  Wm.  Baldwin,  M.  D.,  compiled  by  Wni.  Dar- 
lington, M.  D.  12mo.  Phila.,  1843. 


LITERARY  HISTORY.  63 

and  historical  botany  of  our  country,  and  whom  I  have 
already  had  occasion  to  advert  to  as  the  editor  of  the 
elder  Bartram's  Correspondence.  While  those  to  the 
former  have  no  interest  but  to  the  professed  botanist, 
his  letters  to  the  latter  are  not  less  rich  in  information 
regarding  the  condition  of  the  country  and  its  inhabi- 
tants, than  they  are  entertaining  from  the  agreeable 
epistolary  style  in  which  they  are  composed,  and  the 
thanks  of  the  historian  as  well  as  the  naturalist  are  due 
to  their  editor  for  rescuing  them  from  oblivion.  It 
was  the  expectation  of  Dr.  Baldwin  to  give  these 
observations  a  connected  form  and  publish  them  under 
the  subjoined  title,1  but  the  duties  of  his  position  and 
his  untimely  death  prevented  him  from  accomplishing 
this  design.  As  far  as  completed,  comprising  eight 
letters,  twenty  pages  in  all,  this  work  is  appended  to 
the  Reliquiae. 

The  cession  of  Florida  to  the  United  States,  natur- 
ally excited  considerable  attention,  both  in  England 
and  our  own  country,  manifested  by  the  appearance  of 
several  pamphlets,  the  titles  of  two  of  the  most  note- 
worthy of  which  are  given  below.3 


1  Notices  of  East  Florida,  and  the  Sea  Coast  of  the  State  of 
Georgia  ;  in  a  series  of  Letters  to  a  Friend  in  Pennsylvania. 
With  an  Appendix,  containing  a  Register  of  the  Weather,  and 
a  Calendarium  Florae.     The  friend  here  referred  to  was  Dr. 
Wm.  Darlington.     The  materials  for  the  Calendarium  are 
preserved  in  the  letters  to  Dr.  .Muhlenberg. 

2  J.  L.  Rattenbury.     Remarks  on  the  Cession  of  Florida  to 
the  United  States  of  America,  and  on  the  necessity  of  acquir- 
ing the  Island  of  Cuba  by  Great  Britain.  Second  edition,  with 
considerable   additions,  printed   exclusively  in   the  Pamph- 
leteer.    London,  1819. 

Memoir  upon  the  Negotiations  between  Spain  and  the 
United  States,  which  led  to  the  Treaty  of  1819  ;  with  a  Sta- 
tistical Notice  of  Florida,  8vo.,  Washington,  1821. 


64:  FLORIDIAN  PENINSULA. 

Numerous  manuscripts  pertaining  to  the  history  of 
the  colony  are  said  to  have  been  carried  away  by  the 
Catholic  clergy  at  the  time  of  the  cession,  many  of 
which  were  deposited  in  the  convents  of  Havana,  and 
probably  might  still  be  recovered. 


§  6. — THE  SUPREMACY  or  THE  UNITED  STATES. 
1821-1858. 

No  sooner  had  the  United  States  obtained  possession 
of  this  important  addition  to  her  territory,  than  emi- 
grants, both  from  the  old  countries  and  from  the  more 
northern  States,  prepared  to  flock  thither  to  test  its 
yet  untried  capabilities.  Information  concerning  it 
was  eagerly  demanded  and  readily  supplied.  In  the 
very  year  of  the  cession  appeared  two  volumes,  each 
having  for  its  object  the  elucidation  of  its  geography 
and  topography,  its  history,  natural  and  civil. 

One  of  these  we  owe  to  William  Darby,1  an  engineer 
of  Maryland,  not  unknown  in  our  literary  annals  as  a 
general  geographer.  It  is  but  a  compilation,  hastily 
constructed  from  a  mass  of  previously  known  facts,  to 
satisfy  the  ephemeral  curiosity  of  a  hungry  public. 
As  far  as  is  known  of  his  life,  the  author  never  so 
much  as  set  foot  in  the  country  whose  natural  his- 
tory he  proposes  to  give,  and  he  will  err  widely  who 
hopes  to  find  in  it  that  which  the  pretentious  title- 
page  bids  him  expect. 

A  much  superior  work  is  that  of  James  Grant 
Forbes.3  This  gentleman  was  a  resident  of  the  ter- 

1  A  Memoir  of  the  Geography,  and  Natural  and  Civil  His- 
tory of  East  Florida,  8vo.,  Philadelphia,  1821. 

2  Sketches  of  the  History  and  Topography  of  Florida,  8vo., 
New  York,  1821. 


LITERARY  HISTORY.  65 

ritory,  and  had  ample  opportunities  for  acquiring  a 
pretty  thorough  knowledge  of  its  later  history,  both 
from  personal  experience  and  from  unpublished  docu- 
ments. He  is  consequently  good  authority  for  facts 
occurring  during  the  British  and  later  Spanish  admin- 
istrations. Though  at  the  time  of  publication  the  sub- 
ject of  considerable  praise,  his  work  has  since  been 
denounced,  though  with  great  injustice,  as  "a  wretched 
compilation  from  old  works."  * 

The  next  year  a  little  book  appeared  anonymously 
at  Charleston.2  The  writer,  apparently  a  physician, 
had  travelled  through  Alachua  county,  and  ascended 
the  St.  Johns  as  far  as  Volusia.  It  consists  of  a  gene- 
ral description  of  the  country,  a  diary  of  the  journey 
through  Alachua,  and  an  account  of  the  Seminole  In- 
dians with  a  vocabulary  of  their  language.  Some  of 
his  observations  are  not  without  value. 

The  next  work  in  chronological  order  was  written 
by  Charles  Vignoles,  a  "  civil  and  topographical  engi- 
neer," and  subsequently  public  translator  at  St.  Augus- 
tine. In  the  Introduction  he  remarks,  "  The  following 
observations  on  the  Floridas  have  been  collected  dur- 
ing a  residence  in  the  country  ;  in  which  period  several 
extensive  journeys  were  made  with  a  view  of  obtain- 
ing materials  for  the  construction  of  a  new  map,  and 
for  the  purpose  now  brought  forward."  He  notices 
the  history,  topography,  and  agriculture,  the  climate 
and  soil  of  the  territory,  gives  a  sketch  of  the  Keys, 
some  account  of  the  Indians,  and  is  quite  full  on 

1  Compare  the  North  Am.  Review,  Vol.  XIII.,  p.  98,  with 
the  same  journal,  Vol.  XXVL,  p.  482.     (Rich.) 

2  Notices  of  East  Florida,  with  an  Account  of  the  Seminole 
Nation  of  Indians.     By  a  recent  Traveller  in  the  Province. 
Printed  for  the  Author.  8vo.  Charleston,  1822.  pp.  105. 

6* 


66  FLORIDIAN   PENINSULA. 

Land  Titles,  then  a  very  important  topic,  and  adds  to 
the  whole  a  useful  Appendix  of  Documents  relative 
to  the  Cession.1  Vignoles  is  a  dry  and  uninteresting 
composer,  with  no  skill  in  writing,  and  his  observations 
were  rather  intended  as  a  commentary  on  his  map 
than  as  an  independent  work. 

Energetic  attempts  were  shortly  made  to  induce 
immigration.  Hopes  were  entertained  that  a  colony 
of  industrious  Swiss  might  be  persuaded  to  settle  near 
Tallahassie,  where  it  was  supposed  silk  culture  and 
vine  growing  could  be  successfully  prosecuted.  When 
General  Lafayette  visited  this  country  he  brought 
with  him  a  series  of  inquiries,  propounded  by  an  in- 
telligent citizen  of  Berne,  relative  to  the  capabilities 
and  prospects  of  the  land.  They  were  handed  over  to 
Mr.  McComb  of  that  vicinity.  His  answers2  are 
tinged  by  a  warm  fancy,  and  would  lead  us  to  believe 
that  in  middle  Florida  had  at  last  been  found  the  veri- 
table Arcadia.  Though  for  their  purpose  well  suited 
enough,  for  positive  statistics  it  would  be  preferable  to 
seek  in  other  quarters. 

In  1826,  there  was  an  Institute  of  Agriculture, 
Antiquities,  and  Science  organized  at  Tallahassie.  At 
the  first  (and,  as  far  as  I  am  aware,  also  the  last)  pub- 
lic meeting  of  this  comprehensive  society,  Colonel 
Gadsden  was  appointed  to  deliver  the  opening  address.3 

1  Observations  on  the  Floridas.     8vo.     New  York,  1823. 
pp.  197. 

2  Answers  of  David  B.  McComb,  Esq.,  with  an  accompany- 
ing Letter  of  General  Lafayette.     8vo.     Tallahassie,  1827. 
See  the  North  Am.  Review,  Vol.  XXVI.,  p.  478. 

3  Oration  delivered  by  Colonel  James  Gadsden  to  the  Flo- 
rida Institute  of  Agriculture,  Antiquities  and  Science,  at  its 
first  Public  Anniversary,  Thursday,  Jan.  4th,  1827.    See  the 
North  Am.  Review,  Vol.  XXV.,  p.  219. 


LITERARY   HISTORY.  67 

This  was  afterwards  printed  and  favorably  noticed  by 
some  of  the  leading  journals.  Apparently,  however, 
it  contained  little  at  all  interesting  either  to  the  anti- 
quarian or  scientific  man,  but  was  principally  taken  up 
with  showing  the  prospect  of  a  rapid  agricultural 
developement  throughout  the  country. 

Neither  were  general  internal  improvements  slighted. 
A  project  was  set  on  foot  to  avoid  the  dangerous  naviga- 
tion round  the  Florida  Keys  by  direct  transportation 
across  the  neck  of  the  peninsula — a  design  that  has 
ever  been  the  darling  hobby  of  ambitious  Floridians 
since  they  became  members  of  our  confederacy,  and 
which  at  length  seems  destined  to  be  fulfilled.  Now 
railroads,  in  that  day  canals  were  to  be  the  means. 
As  early  as  1828,  General  Bernard,  who  had  been 
dispatched  for  the  purpose,  had  completed  two  level- 
lings  for  canal  routes,  had  sketched  an  accurate  map 
on  an  extended  scale,  and  had  laid  before  the  general 
government  a  report  embracing  a  topographical  and 
hydrographical  description  of  the  territory,  the  result 
of  his  surveys,  with  remarks  on  the  inland  navigation 
of  the  coast  from  Tampa  to  the  head  of  the  delta  of 
the  Mississippi,  and  the  possible  and  actual  improve- 
ments therein.1  Notwithstanding  these  magnificent 
preparations,  it  is  unnecessary  to  add,  the  canal  is 
still  unborn. 

One  great  drawback  to  the  progress  of  the  territory 
was  the  uncertainty  of  Land  Titles.  During  the  Span- 


1  Message  of  the  President  in  relation  to  the  Survey  of  a 
Route  for  a  Canal  between  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  and  the  Atlan- 
tic Ocean;  with  the  Report  of  the  Board  of  Internal  Improve- 
ment on  the  same,  with  a  general  map  annexed,  February  28, 
1829.  A  flowery  article  of  ten  pages  may  be  found  on  this 
in  the  Southern  Review,  Vol.  VI.,  p.  410. 


68  FLORIDIAN   PENINSULA. 

ish  administration  nearly  the  whole  had  been  parcelled 
out  and  conferred  in  grants  by  the  king.  Old  claims, 
dating  back  to  the  British  regime,  added  to  the  confu- 
sion. Many  of  both  had  been  sold  and  resold  to  both 
Spanish  and  American  citizens.  In  the  Appendix  to 
Vignoles,  and  in  Williams'  View  of  West  Florida, 
many  pages  are  devoted  to  this  weighty  and  very  intri- 
cate subject.  Some  of  these  claims  were  of  enormous 
extent.  Such  was  that  of  Mr.  Hackley,  which  em- 
braced the  whole  Grulf  coast  of  the  peninsula  and 
reached  many  miles  inland.  This  tract  had  been  a 
grant  of  His  Catholic  Majesty  to  the  Duke  of  Alagon, 
and  it  was  an  express  stipulation  on  the  part  of  the 
United  States,  acceded  to  by  the  king,  that  it  should 
be  annulled.  But  meanwhile  the  Duke  had  sold  out 
to  Mr.  Hackley  and  others,  who  claimed  that  the  king 
could  not  legally  dispossess  American  citizens.  A 
pamphlet  was  published1  containing  all  the  documents 
relating  to  the  question,  and  the  elaborate  opinions  of 
several  leading  lawyers,  all  but  one  in  favor  of  Mr. 
Hackley.  After  a  protracted  suit,  the  Gordian  knot 
was  finally  severed  by  an  ex,  post  facto  decree  of  His 
Majesty,  that  a  crown  grant  to  a  subject  was  in  any 
case  inalienable,  least  of  all  to  a  foreigner. 

The  work  of  Col.   John  Lee  Williams  just  men- 
tioned,2 though   ostensibly  devoted   to  .West  Florida 

1  Titles  and  Legal  Opinions  on  Lands  in  East  Florida  be- 
longing to  Richard  S.  Hackley,  8vo.,  Fayetteville,  (N.  Car.,) 
1826,  pp.  71.     See  the  North  American  Review,  Vol.  XXIII., 
p.  432.     Hackley's  grant  is  laid  down  on  Williams'  Map. 

2  A  View  of  West  Florida,  embracing  its  Topography,  Ge- 
ography, &c.,  with  an  Appendix  treating  of  its  Antiquities, 
Land  Titles,  and  Canals,  and  containing  a  Chart  of  the  Coast, 
a  Plan  of  Pensacola,  and  the  Entrance  of  the  Harbor.     8vo. 
Phila.,  1827,  pp.  178. 


LITERARY  HISTORY.  69 

takes  a  wider  sweep  than  the  title  page  denotes.  Its 
author  went  to  Florida  in  1820,  and  was  one  of  the 
commissioners  appointed  to  locate  the  seat  of  govern- 
ment. While  busied  with  this,  he  was  struck  with  the 
marked  deficiency  of  all  the  then  published  maps  of 
the  country,  "  and  for  my  own  satisfaction,"  he  adds, 
« I  made  a  minute  survey  of  the  coast  from  St.  An- 
drew's Bay  to  the  Suwannee,  as  well  as  the  interior  of 
the  country  in  which  Tallahassie  is  situated."  A 
letter  from  Judge  Brackenridge,  alcalde  of  St.  Augus- 
tine, principally  consisting  of  quotations  from  Roberts, 
is  all  that  touches  on  antiquities.  Except  this,  and 
some  accounts  of  the  early  operations  of  the  Ameri- 
cans in  obtaining  possession,  and  the  statements  con- 
cerning Land  Titles,  the  book  is  taken  up  with  discus- 
sions of  proposed  internal  improvements  of  very  local 
and  ephemeral  interest. 

All  the  details  of  any  value  that  it  contains  he 
subsequently  incorporated  in  his  Civil  and  Natural 
History  of  the  Territory,  published  ten  years  later. 
Most  of  the  intervening  time  he  spent  in  arduous 
personal  researches ;  to  quote  his  own  words,  "  I  have 
traversed  the  country  in  various  directions,  and  have 
coasted  the  whole  peninsula  from  Pensacola  to  St. 
Mary's,  examining  with  minute  attention  the  various 
Keys  or  Islets  on  the  margin  of  the  coast.  I  have 
ascended  many  of  the  rivers,  explored  the  lagoons  and 
bays,  traced  the  ancient  improvements,  scattered  ruins, 
and  its  natural  productions  by  land  and  by  water." 
Hence  the  chief  value  of  the  work  is  as  a  gazetteer. 

1  The  Territory  of  Florida ;  or  Sketches  of  the  Topography, 
Civil  and  Natural  History  of  the  Country,  the  Climate  and 
the  Indian  Tribes,  from  the  First  Discovery  to  the  Present 
Time.  8vo.  New  York,  1837. 


70  FLORIDIAN   PENINSULA. 

The  civil  history  is  a  mere  compilation,  collected  with- 
out criticism,  and  arranged  without  judgment;  an 
entire  ignorance  of  other  languages,  and  the  paucity  of 
materials  in  our  own,  incapacitated  Williams  from 
achieving  anything  more.  Nor  can  he  claim  to  be 
much  of  a  naturalist,  for  the  frequent  typographical 
errors  in  the  botanical  names  proclaim  him  largely 
debtor  to  others  in  this  department.  His  style  is 
eminently  dry  and  difficult  to  labor  through,  and  must 
ever  confine  the  History  to  the  shelf  as  a  work  of 
reference,  and  to  the  closet  of  the  painful  student. 
Yet  with  all  its  faults — and  they  are  neither  few  nor 
slight — this  is  the  most  complete  work  ever  published 
concerning  the  territory  of  Florida ;  it  is  the  fruit  of 
years  of  laborious  investigation,  of  absorbing  devotion 
to  one  object,  often  of  keen  mental  and  bodily  suffer- 
ing, and  will  ever  remain  a  witness  to  the  energy  and 
zeal  of  its  writer. 

As  little  is  recorded  about  this  author  pioneer,  I 
may  perhaps  be  excused  for  turning  aside  to  recall  a 
few  personal  recollections.  It  had  long  been  my  de- 
sire to  visit  and  converse  with  him  about  the  early 
days  of  the  state,  and  with  this  object,  on  the  9th  of 
November,  1856,  I  stopped  at  the  little  town  of  Pico- 
lati,  near  which  he  lived.  A  sad  surprise  awaited  me  j 
he  had  died  on  the  7th  of  the  month  and  had  been 
buried  the  day  before  my  arrival.  I  walked  through 
the  woods  to  his  house.  It  was  a  rotten,  ruinous, 
frame  tenement  on  the  banks  of  the  St.  Johns,  about 
half  a  mile  below  the  town,  fronted  by  a  row  of  noble 
live  oaks  and  surrounded  by  the  forest.  Here  the  old 
man — he  was  over  eighty  at  the  time  of  his  death — 
had  lived  for  twenty  years  almost  entirely  alone,  and 
much  of  the  time  in  abject  poverty.  A  trader  hap- 


LITERARY  HISTORY.  71 

pened  to  be  with  him  during  his  last  illness,  who  told 
me  some  incidents  of  his  history.  His  mind  retained 
its  vigor  to  the  last,  and  within  a  week  of  his  death  he 
was  actively  employed  in  various  literary  avocations, 
among  which  was  the  preparation  of  an  improved 
edition  of  his  History,  which  he  had  very  nearly  com- 
pleted. At  the  very  moment  the  paralytic  stroke, 
from  which  he  died,  seized  him,  he  had  the  pen  in  his 
hand  writing  a  novel,  the  scene  of  which  was  laid  in 
China  !  His  disposition  was  uncommonly  aimable  and 
engaging,  and  so  much  was  he  beloved  by  the  Indians, 
that  throughout  the  horrible  atrocities  of  the  Seminole 
war,  when  all  the  planters  had  fled  or  been  butchered, 
when  neither  sex  nor  age  was  a  protection,  when  Pico- 
lati  was  burned  and  St.  Augustine  threatened,  he  con- 
tinued to  live  unharmed  in  his  old  house,  though  a 
companion  was  shot  dead  on  the  threshold.  What 
the  savage  respected  and  loved,  the  civilized  man 
thought  weakness  and  despised  ;  this  very  goodness  of 
heart  made  him  the  object  of  innumerable  petty  im- 
positions from  the  low  whites,  his  neighbors.  In  the 
words  of  my  informant,  « he  was  too  good  for  the 
people  of  these  parts."  During  his  lonely  old  age  he 
solaced  himself  with  botany  and  horticulture,  priding 
himself  on  keeping  the  best  garden  in  the  vicinity. 
"  Come,  and  I  will  show  you  his  grave,"  said  the 
trader,  and  added  with  a  touch  of  feeling  I  hardly  ex- 
pected, «  he  left  no  directions  about  it,  so  I  made  it  in 
the  spot  he  used  to  love  the  best  of  all."  He  took  me 
to  the  south-eastern  corner  of  the  neat  garden  plot. 
A  heap  of  fresh  earth  with  rough,  round,  pine  sticks 
at  head  and  foot,  marked  the  spot.  It  was  a  solemn 
and  impressive  moment.  The  lengthening  shadows  of 
the  forest  crept  over  us,  the  wind  moaned  in  the  pines 


72  FLOBIDIAN   PENINSULA. 

and  whistled  drearily  through  the  sere  grass,  and  the 
ripples  of  the  river  broke  monotonously  on  the  shore. 
All  trace  of  the  grave  will  soon  be  obliterated,  the 
very  spot  forgotten,  and  the  garden  lie  a  waste,  but 
the  results  of  his  long  and  toilsome  life  «  in  books  re- 
corded" will  live  when  the  marbles  and  monumental 
brasses  of  many  of  his'cotemporaries  shall  be  no  more. 

The  next  event  that  attracted  general  attention  to 
Florida  was  the  bloody  and  disastrous  second  Seminole 
war,  which  for  deeds  of  atrocious  barbarity,  both  on 
the  part  of  the  whites  and  red  men,  equals,  if  it  does 
not  surpass,  any  conflict  that  has  ever  stained  the  soil 
of  our  country. 

The  earliest  work  relative  to  it  was  published  anony- 
mously in  1836,  by  an  officer  in  the  army..1  He  gives 
an  impartial  account  of  the  causes  that  gave  rise  to  the 
war,  the  manifold  insults  and  aggressions  that  finally 
goaded  the  Indians  to  desperation,  and  the  incidents 
of  the  first  campaign  undertaken  to  punish  them  for 
their  contumacy.  It  is  well  and  clearly  written,  and 
coming  from  the  pen  of  a  participant  in  many  of  the 
scenes  described,  merits  a  place  in  the  library  of  the 
historian. 

The  year  subsequent,  Mr.  M.  M.  Cohen  of  Charles- 
ton, issued  -a  notice  of  the  proceedings  in  the  penin- 
sula.2 He  was  an  "  officer  of  the  left  wing,"  and  had 
spent  about  five  months  with  the  army,  during  which 
time  it  marched  from  St.  Augustine  to  Volusia,  thence 
to  Tampa,  and  back  again  to  St.  Augustine.  The 

1  The  War  in  Florida;  being  an  Exposition  of  its  Causes 
and   an   accurate   History   of    the   Campaigns   of  Generals 
Gaines,  Clinch  and  Scott.     By  a  late  Staff  Officer.    8vo.  Bal- 
timore, 1836,  pp.  184. 

2  History  of  the  Florida  Campaigns.     12tno.     Charleston, 
1837. 


LITERARY  HISTORY.  73 

author  tells  us  in  his  Preface,  "  our  book  has  been  put 
to  press  in  less  than  thirty  days  from  its  being  under- 
taken •"  a  statement  no  one  will  be  inclined  to  doubt, 
as  it  is  little  more  than  a  farrago  of  vapid  puns  and 
stale  witticisms,  hurriedly  scraped  together  into  a  slim 
volume,  and  connected  by  a  slender  string  of  facts. 
An  account  of  the  imprisonment  of  Oceola  and  the 
enslavement  of  his  wife,  has  been  given  by  the  same 
writer,1  and  has  received  praise  for  its  accuracy. 

In  1836,  when  the  war  was  at  its  height,  an  Indian  boy 
was  taken  prisoner  by  a  party  of  American  soldiers  near 
Newnansville.  Contrary  to  custom  his  life  was  spared, 
and  the  next  year  he  was  handed  over  to  the  care  of  an 
English  gentleman  then  resident  in  the  country.  From 
his  own  account,  drawn  from  him  after  long  persuasion, 
his  name  was  Nikkanoche,  his  father  was  the  unhappy 
Econchatti-mico,  and  consequently  he  was  nephew  to 
the  famous  chief  Oceola,  (Ass-se-he-ho-lar,  Rising  Sun, 
Powell.)  His  guardian  removed  with  him  to  England 
in  1840,  and  the  year  after  his  arrival  there,  published 
an  account  of  the  parentage,  early  days,  and  nation  of 
his  ward,3  the  young  Prince  of  Econchatti,  as  he  was 
styled.  It  forms  an  interesting  and  pleasant  little 
volume,  though  I  do  not  know  what  amount  of  reliance 
can  be  placed  on  the  facts  asserted. 

An  excellent  article  on  the  war,  which  merits  care- 
ful reading  from  any  one  desirous  of  thoroughly  sifting 
the  question,  may  be  found  in  the  fifty-fourth  volume 
of  the  North  American  Review,  (1842,)  prepared  with 

1  In    the  Quarterly   Anti-Slavery    Magazine.     (Giddings, 
Exiles  of  Florida,  p.  99,  note.) 

2  A  Narrative  of  the  Early  Days  and   Remembrances  of 
Oceola  Nikkanoche,  Prince  of  Econchatti,  a  young  Seminole 
Indian.      Written  by  his   Guardian.      8vo.     London,  1841, 
pp.  228. 

T 


74:  FLORIDIAN  PENINSULA. 

reference  to  Mr.  Horace  Everett's  remarks  on  the  Army 
Appropriation  Bill  of  July  14,  1840,  and  to  a  letter 
from  the  Secretary  of  War  on  the  expenditure  for  sup- 
porting hostilities  in  Florida. 

Though  the  above  memoirs  are  of  use  in  throwing 
additional  light  on  some  points,  and  settling  certain 
mooted  questions,  the  standard  work  of  reference  on 
the  Florida  war  is  the  very  able,  accurate,  and  gene- 
rally impartial  History,1  of  Captain  John  T.  Sprague, 
himself  a  participant  in  many  of  its  scenes,  and  offici- 
ally concerned  in  its  prosecution.  Few  of  our  local 
histories  rank  higher  than  this.  With  a  praiseworthy 
patience  of  research  he  goes  at  length  into  its  causes, 
commencing  with  the  cession  in  1821,  details  minutely 
its  prosecution  till  the  close  in  December,  1845,  and 
paints  with  a  vigorous  and  skillful  pen  many  of  those 
thrilling  adventures  and  affecting  passages  that  marked 
its  progress.  A  map  of  the  seat  of  war  that  accom- 
panies it,  drawn  up  with  care,  and  embracing  most 
of  the  geographical  discoveries  made  by  the  various 
divisions  of  the  army,  adds  to  its  value. 

Commencing  his  history  with  the  cession,  Captain 
Sprague  does  not  touch  on  the  earlier  troubles  with 
the  Seminoles.  These  were  never  properly  handled 
previous  to  the  late  work  of  the  Hon.  J.  R.  Giddings, 
entitled,  «  The  Exiles  of  Florida."  *  These  so-called 
exiles  were  runaway  slaves  from  the  colonies  of  South 
Carolina  and  Georgia,  who,  quite  early  in  the  last 


1  The  Origin,  Progress,  and  Conclusion  of  the  Florida  War. 
8vo.     New  York,  1848. 

2  The  Exiles  of  Florida;  or,  the  Crimes  Committed  by  our 
Government  against  the  Maroons,  who  fled  from  South  Caro- 
lina and  other  Slave  States,  seeking  Protection  under  Spanish 
Laws.     8vo.     Columbus,  (Ohio,)  1858. 


LITERARY  HISTORY.  75 

century,  sought  an  asylum  in  the  Spanish  possessions, 
formed  separate  settlements,  and,  increased  by  fresh 
refugees,  became  ever  after  a  fruitful  source  of  broils 
and  quarrels  between  the  settlers  of  the  rival  pro- 
vinces. As  they  were  often  protected,  and  by  mar- 
riage and  situation  became  closely  connected  with  the 
Lower  Creeks,  they  were  generally  identified  with  them 
in  action  under  the  common  name  of  Seminoles.  Thus 
the  history  of  one  includes  that  of  the  other.  The 
profound  acquaintance  with  the  transactions  of  our 
government  acquired  by  Mr.  Giddings  during  a  long 
and  honorable*  public  service,  render  his  work  an  able 
plea  in  the  cause  of  the  people  whose  wrongs  and 
sufferings  have  enlisted  his  sympathy;  but  unques- 
tionably the  fervor  of  his  views  prevents  him  from 
doing  full  justice  to  their  adversaries.  He  attaches 
less  weight  than  is  right  to  the  strict  legality  of  most 
of  the  claims  for  slaves;  and  forgets  to  narrate  the 
inhuman  cruelties,  shocking  even  to  the  red  men, 
wreaked  by  these  maroons  on  their  innocent  captives, 
which  palliate,  if  they  do  not  excuse,  the  rancorous 
hatred  with  which  they  were  pursued  by  the  whites. 
Including  their  history  from  their  origin  till  1853,  the 
second  Seminole  war  occupies  much  of  his  attention, 
and  the  treatment  both  of  it  and  the  other  topics, 
prove  the  writer  a  capable  historian,  as  well  as  an 
accomplished  statesman. 

It  is  unnecessary  to  specify  the  numerous  reports  of 
the  officers,  the  official  correspondence,  the  speeches  of 
members  of  Congress,  and  other  public  writings  that 
illustrate  the  history  of  the  war,  which  are  contained 
in  the  Executive  Documents.  But  I  should  not  omit 
to  mention  that  the  troubles  in  Florida  during  the  last 
few  years  have  given  occasion  to  the  publication  of 


76  FLORIDIAN   PENINSULA. 

the  only  at  all  accurate  description  of  the  southern 
extremity  of  the  peninsula  in  existence.1  It  was 
issued  for  the  use  of  the  army,  from  inedited  reports 
of  officers  during  the  second  Seminole  war,  and  lays 
down  and  describes  topographically  nine  routes  to  and 
from  the  principal  military  posts  south  of  Tampa  Bay. 

The  works  relating  to  St.  Augustine  next  claim  our 
attention.  Of  late  years  this  has  become  quite  a  favor- 
ite rendezvous  for  casual  tourists,  invalids  from  the 
north,  magazine  writers,  et  id  omne  genus,  whence  to 
indite  letters  redolent  of  tropic  skies,  broken  ruins, 
balmy  moonlight,  and  lustrous-eyed  beauties.  Though 
it  would  be  lost  time  to  enumerate  these,  yet  among 
books  of  general  travel,  there  are  one  or  two  of  interest 
in  this  connection.  Among  these  is  an  unpretending 
little  volume  that  appeared  anonymously  at  New  York 
in  1839.2  The  author,  a  victim  of  asthma,  had  visited 
both  St.  Augustine  and  Key  West  in  the  spring  of  that 
year.  Though  written  in  a  somewhat  querulous  tone, 
it  contains  some  serviceable  hints  to  invalids  expecting 
to  spend  a  winter  in  warmer  climes. 

Neither  ought  we  to  pass  by  in  silence  the  Floridian 
notes  of  the  "  Hon.  Miss  Amelia  M.  Murray," 3  who, 
it  will  be  recollected,  a  few  years  since  tock  a  con- 
temptuous glance  at  our  country  from  Maine  to  Lousi- 
ana,  weighed  it  in  the  balance  of  her  judgment,  and 
pronounced  it  wanting  in  most  of  the  elements  of 

1  Memoir  to  accompany  a  Military  Map  of  Florida  South 
of  Tampa  Bay,  compiled  by  Lieutenant  J.  C.  Ives,  Topographi- 
cal Engineer.     War  Department,   April,    1856.     8vo.     New 
York,  1856,  pp.  42. 

2  A  Winter  in  Florida  and  the  West  Indies.     12mo.    New 
York,  1839. 

3  Letters  from  the  United  States,  Canada  and  Cuba.    New 
York,  1856. 


LITERARY  HISTORY.  77 

civilization.  She  went  on  a  week's  scout  into  Flori- 
da, found  the  charges  exorbitant,  the  government 
wretchedly  conducted,  and  the  people  boors;  was 
deeply  disappointed  with  St.  Augustine  and  harbor 
because  an  island  shut  out  the  view  of  the  ocean,  and 
at  Silver  Spring  found  nothing  more  worthy  of  her 
pen  than  the  anti-slavery  remark  of  an  inn-keeper, — 
who  has  himself  assured  me  that  she  entirely  miscon- 
strues even  that. 

Two  works  devoted  to  the  Ancient  City,  as  its  in- 
habitants delight  to  style  it,  have  been  published.  One 
of  these  is  a  pleasant  little  hand-book,  issued  some 
ten  years  since  by  the  Rev.  Mr.  Sewall,  Episcopalian 
minister  there.1  He  prepared  it  "to  meet  the  wants 
of  those  who  may  desire  to  learn  something  of  the 
place  in  view  of  a  sojourn,  or  who  may  have  already 
come  hither  in  search  of  health,"  and  it  is  well  calcu- 
lated for  this  purpose.  A  view  of  the  town  from  the 
harbor,  (sold  also  separately,)  and  sketches  of  the  most 
remarkable  buildings  increase  its  usefulness.  A  curious 
incident  connected  with  this  book  is  worth  relating  for 
the  light  it  throws  on  the  character  of  the  so-called 
Minorcans  of  St.  Augustine.  In  one  part  Mr.  Sewall 
had  inserted  a  passage  somewhat  depreciatory  of  this 
class.  When  the  edition  arrived  and  this  became  gene- 
rally known,  they  formed  a  mob,  surrounded  the  store 
where  it  was  deposited,  and  could  only  be  restrained  from 
destroying  the  whole  by  a  promise  that  the  obnoxious 
leaf  sould  be  cut  from  every  volume  in  the  package. 
This  was  done,  and  the  copy  I  purchased  there  accord- 
ingly lacks  the  thirty-eighth  and  thirty-ninth  pages. 

1  Sketches  of  St.  Augustine,  with  a  View  of  its  History  and 
Advantages  as  a  Resort  for  Invalids.  By  R.  K.  Sewall.  8vo. 
New  York,  1848,  pp.  69. 

7* 


78  FLOKIDIAN  PENINSULA. 

An  action  on  their  part  that  calls  to  mind  the  ancient 
saw,  "  ;Tis  the  tight  shoe  that  pinches." 

Another  and  later  work  that  enters  into  the  subject 
more  at  length,  has  recently  appeared  from  the  com- 
petent pen  of  Gr.  R.  Fairbanks,1  a  resident  of  the 
spot,  and  a  close  student  of  the  chronicles  of  the  old 
colony.  The  rise  and  progress  of  the  settlements 
both  French  and  Spanish  are  given  in  detail  and  with 
general  accuracy,  and  though  his  account  of  the  former 
is  not  so  finished  nor  so  thoroughly  digested  as  that  of 
Sparks,  consisting  of  little  more  than  extracts  linked 
together,  we  have  no  other  work  in  our  language  so 
full  on  the  doings  of  the  subjects  of  His  Catholic 
Majesty  in  Florida,  and  the  gradual  growth  of  the 
Ancient  City.  It  thus  fills  up  a  long  standing  hiatus 
in  our  popular  historical  literature. 

Numerous  articles  on  Florida  have  appeared  in 
various  American  periodicals,  but  so  few  of  any  value 
that  as  a  class  they  do  not  merit  attention.  Most  of 
them  are  flighty  descriptions  of  scenery,  second-hand 
morsels  of  history,  and  empty  political  disquisitions. 
Some  of  the  best  I  have  referred  to  in  connection 
with  the  points  they  illustrate,  while  the  Index  of  Mr. 
Poole,  a  work  invaluable  to  American  scholars,  obvi- 
ates the  necessity  of  a  more  extended  reference. 

Those  that  have  appeared  in  the  serials  of  Europe, 
on  the  other  hand,  as  they  mostly  contain  original 
matter,  so  they  must  not  be  passed  over  so  lightly. 

Though  not  strictly  included  among  them,  the  arti- 
cle on  Florida  prepared  by  Mr.  Warden  for  that  por- 
tion of  E  Art  de  Verifier  les  Dates  called  Historical 

1  The  History  and  Antiquities  of  the  City  of  St.  Augustine, 
Florida,  comprising  some  of  the  most  Interesting  Portions  of 
the  Early  History  of  Florida.  8vo.  New  York,  1858. 


LITERARY  HISTORY.  79 

Chronology  of  America,  will  come  under  our  notice 
here.  In  a  compendium  parading  such  a  pretentious 
title  as  this  we  have  a  right  to  expect  at  least  an  aver- 
age accuracy,  but  this  portion  bears  on  its  face  obvious 
marks  of  haste,  negligence,  and  a  culpable  lack  of 
criticism,  and  is  redeemed  by  nothing  but  a  few  ex- 
cerpts from  rare  books. 

Little  attention  has  ever  been  paid  to  the  natural 
history  of  the  country,  least  of  all  by  Americans.  The 
best  observer  of  late  years  has  been  M.  de  Castelnau, 
who,  sent  out  by  the  Academic  des  Sciences  to  collect 
and  observe  in  this  department,  spent  in  Middle 
Florida  one  of  the  seven  years  he  passed  in  America. 
While  the  Seminole  war  was  raging,  and  a  mutual 
slaughter  giving  over  the  peninsula  once  more  to  its 
pristine  wilderness,  in  the  gloomy  hammocks  of  the 
Suwannee  and  throughout  the  lofty  forests  that  stretch 
between  this  river  and  the  Apalachicola,  this  natural- 
ist was  pursuing  his  peaceful  avocation  undisturbed 
by  the  discord  around  him.  In  April,  1842,  after 
his  return,  he  submitted  to  the  Academy  a  memoir  on 
this  portion  of  his  investigations.1  It  is  divided  into 
three  sections,  the  first  a  geographical  description,  the 
second  treating  of  the  climate,  hygienic  condition,  geo- 
logy, and  agriculture,  while  the  third  is  devoted  to 
anthropology,  as  exhibited  here  in  its  three  phases, 
the  red,  the  white,  and  the  black  man.  In  one  pas- 
sage,1 speaking  of  the  history  of  the  country,  this 
author  remarks  that  M.  Lakanal  "  has,  during  his  long 
sojourn  at  Mobile,  just  on  the  confines  of  Florida, 
collected  numerous  documents  relative  to  the  latter 

1  Memoire  sur  la  Florida  du  Milieu,  Comptes-Rendus,  T. 
XIV.,  p.  518;  T.  XV.,  p.  1045. 
1  Comptes  Rendus,  XV.,  p.  1047. 


80  FLORIDIAN  PENINSULA. 

country;  but  the  important  labors  of  our  venerable 
colleague  have  not  yet  been  published."  As  far  as  I 
can  learn,  these  doubtless  valuable  additions  to  our 
history  are  still  inedited. 

The  subjoined  list  of  some  other  articles  published 
in  Europe  is  extracted  from  Dr.  W.  Koner's  excellent 
catalogue.1 

1832.  De  Mobile,  Excursion  dans  1'  Alabama  et  les 
Florides.  Revue  des  Deux  Mondes,  T.  I.,  p.  128. 

1835.  Beitrage  zur  Nliheren  Kenntniss  von  Florida. 
Anal,  der  Erdkunde,  B.  XII.,  s.  336. 

1836.  Castelnau,  Note   sur  la  Source  de  la  Riviere 
de  Walkulla  dans  la  Floride.  Soc.  de  Geographic,  II 
ser.,  T.  XL,  p.  242. 

1839.  David,  Apereu  Statistique  sur  la  Floride  Soc. 
de  Geog.,  II,  ser.,  Tom.  XIV.,  p.  144. 

1842.  Castelnau,  Note  de  deux  Itineraires  de 
Charleston  a  Tallahassie.  Soc.  de  Geog.  T.  XVIII, 
p.  241. 

1843.  Castelnau,  Essai  sur  la  Floride  du  Milieu. 
Annales  de  Voyages,  T.  IV,  p.  129. 

1843.  De  Quatrefages,  La  Floride.  Revue  des  Deux 
Mondes,  nouv.  ser.,  T.  I,  p.  774. 


§  7. — MAPS  AND  CHARTS. 

Though  the  need  of  a  good  history  of  the  most  im- 
portant maps  and  charts  of  America,  enriched  by 
copies  of  the  most  interesting,  cannot  but  have  been 
felt  by  every  one  who  has  spent  much  time  in  the 
study  of  its  first  settlement  and  growth,  such  a  work 

1  Repertoriura  ueber4die auf  dem  Gebiete  der  Geschichto 

erscheineneu  Aufsiitzc,'  u.  s.  w.     Berlin,  1852. 


LITERARY  HISTORY.  81 

still  remains  a  desideratum  in  our  literature.  As  a 
trifling  aid  to  any  who  may  hereafter  engage  in  an 
undertaking  of  this  kind,  and  as  an  assistance  to  the 
future  historian  of  that  portion  of  our  country,  I  add 
a  brief  notice  of  those  that  best  illustrate  the  progress 
of  geographical  knowledge  respecting  Florida. 

On  the  earliest  extant  sketch  of  the  New  "World — , 
that  made  by  Juan  de  Cosa  in  1500 — ,  a  continuous 
coast  line  running  east  and  northeast  connects  the 
southern  continent  to  the  shores  of  the  Mar  descubi- 
erta  por  Inyleses  in  the  extreme  north.  No  signs  of  a 
peninsula  are  visible. 

Eight  year  later,  on  the  Universalior  cogniti  Orlis 
Tabula  of  Johannes  Ruysch  found  in  the  geography 
of  Ptolemy  printed  at  Home  under  the  supervision  of 
Marcus  Beneventanus  and  Johannes  Gotta,  the  whole 
of  North  America  is  included  in  a  small  body  of  land 
marked  Terra  Nova  or  Baccalauras,1  joined  to  the 
countries  of  Gog  and  Magog  and  the  desertum  Lob  in 
Asia.  A  cape  stretching  out  towards  Cuba  is  called 
(Jabo  de  Portugesi.2 

This  brings  us  to  the  enigmatical  map  in  the  mag- 
nificent folio  edition  of  Ptolemy,  printed  at  Venice  in 
1513.  On  this,  North  America  is  an  oblong  parallelo- 
gram of  land  with  an  irregularly  shaped  portion  pro- 
jecting from  its  south-eastern  extremity,  maintaining 
with  general  correctness  the  outlines  and  direction  of 
the  peninsula  of  Florida.  A  number  of  capes  and 
rivers  are  marked  along  its  shores,  some  of  the  names 
evidently  Portugese,  others  Spanish.  Now  as  Leon 

1  Bacalaos,  the  Spanish  word  for  codfish. 

2  See  A.  v.  Humboldt's  Introduction  to  Dr.  T.  W.  Ghillany's 
Geschichte  des  Seefahrers  Hitter  Martin  Behaim,  s.  2 — 5,  in 
which  work  these  two  maps  are  given. 


82  FLOKIDIAN  PENINSULA. 

first  saw  Florida  in  1512,  and  the  report  of  his  dis- 
covery did  not  reach  Europe  for  years,  whence  came 
this  knowledge  of  the  northern  continent  ?  Santarem 
and  Ghillany  both  confess  that  there  were  voyages  to 
the  New  World  undertaken  by  Portuguese  in  the  first 
decade  of  the  century,  about  which  all  else  but  the 
mere  fact  of  their  existence  have  escaped  the  most 
laborious  investigations;  hence,  probably  to  one  of 
these  unknown  navigators  we  are  to  ascribe  the  honor 
of  being  the  first  discoverer  of  Florida,  and  the  source 
of  the  information  displayed  by  the  editors  of  this 
copy  of  Ptolemy.1 

The  first  outline  of  the  coast  drawn  from  known 
observation  is  the  Traza  de  las  Costas  de  Tierra  Firme 
y  de  las  Tierras  Nuevas,  accompanying  the  royal  grant 
of  those  parts  to  Francisco  de  Garayin  the  year  1521. 
It  has  been  published  by  Navarrete,  and  by  Bucking- 
ham Smith.  Contrary  to  the  usual  opinion  of  the 
day,  which  was  not  proved  incorrect  till  the  voyages  of 
Francesco  Fernandez  de  Cordova  (1517),  and  more 
conclusively  by  that  of  Estevan  Gomez  (1525),  the 
peninsula  is  attached  to  the  mainland.  This  and  other 
reasons  render  it  probable  that  it  was  drawn  up  under 
the  supervision  of  Anton  de  Alaminos,  pilot  of  Leon 
on  his  first  voyage,  who  ever  denied  the  existence  of 
an  intervening  strait.2  I  cannot  agree  with  Mr.  Smith 
that  it  points  to  any  prior  discoveries  unknown  to  us. 

1  Many  of  the  names  on  this  map  are  also  on  the  land  called 
Terra  de  Cuba,  north-west  of  the  island  Isabella,  Cuba  proper, 
on  the  globe  of  Johann  Sehoner,  Nuremburg,  1520.  A  copy 
of  a  portion  of  the  globe  is  given  by  Ghillany  in  the  work  just 
mentioned.  For  an  inspection  of  the  original  maps  of  Ptole- 
my of  1508  and  1513,  I  am  indebted  to  the  kindness  of  Peter 
Force,  of  Washington. 

1  Otros  conocieron  ser  tierra  firme ;  y  de  este  parecer  fue 


LITERARY  HISTORY.  83 

On  some  early  maps,  as  one  in  the  quarto  geography 
of  Ptolemy  of  1525,  the  region  of  Florida  is  marked 
Parias.  This  name,  originally  given  by  Columbus  to 
an  island  of  the  West  Indian  archipelago,  and  so  laid 
down  on  the  "  figura  6  pintura  de  la  tierra,"  which 
he  forwarded  to  Ferdinand  the  Catholic  in  1499,*  was 
quite  wildly  applied  by  subsequent  geographers  to 
Peru,  to  the  region  on  the  shore  of  the  Caribbean  Sea, 
to  the  whole  of  South  America,  to  the  southern  ex- 
tremity of  North  America  where  Nicaragua  now  is, 
and  finally  to  the  peninsula  of  Florida. 

We  have  seen  that  early  maps  prove  De  Leon  was 
not,  as  is  commonly  supposed,  the  first  to  see  and 
name  the  Land  of  Flowers  (Terra  Florida)  ;  neither 
did  his  discoveries  first  expand  a  knowledge  of  it  in 
Europe.  Probably  all  that  was  known  by  professed 
geographers  regarding  it  for  a  long  time  after  was  the 
product  of  later  explorations,  for  not  till  forty  years 
from  the  date  of  his  first  voyage  was  there  a  chart 
published  containing  the  name  he  applied  to  the  penin- 
sula. This  is  the  one  called  Novae  Insulae,  in  the 
Geographia  Claudii  Ptolemaei,  Basileae,  1552.  3 

The  only  other  delineation  of  the  country  dating 
from  the  sixteenth  century  that  deserves  notice  —  for 
those  of  Herrera  are  quite  worthless  —  is  that  by 
Jacques  Le  Moyne  de  Morgues,  published  in  the  sec- 
ond volume  of  De  Bry,  which  is  curious  as  the  only  one 
left  by  the  French  colonists,  though  geographically 


siempre  Anton  de  Alaminos,  Piloto,  que  fue  con  Juan  Ponce. 
IBarcia,  Introduction  al  Ensayo  Chronologico. 

1  Herrera,  Dec.  I.,  Lib.  I.,  cap.  iii.,  p.  91. 

2  For  a  description  of  this  and  other  maps  of  \  America 
during  the  sixteenth  century,  see  Dr.  Ghillany,  ubi  supra,  p. 
58,  Annierk.  17. 


84  FLORIDIAN  PENINSULA. 

not  more  correct  than  others  of  the  day.  Indeed,  all 
of  them  portray  the  country  very  imperfectly.  Gener- 
ally it  is  represented  as  a  triangular  piece  of  land 
more  or  less  irregular,  indented  by  bays,  divided  into 
provinces  Cautio,  Calos,  Tegeste,  and  others,  names 
which  are  often  applied  to  the  whole  peninsula.  The 
southern  extremity  is  sometimes  divided  into  numerous 
islands  by  arms  of  the  sea,  and  the  St.  Johns,  when 
down  at  all,  rises  from  mountains  to  the  north,  and 
runs  in  a  southeasterly  direction,  nearly  parallel  with 
the  rivers  supposed  to  have  been  discovered  by  Kibaut, 
(La  Somme,  La  Loire,  &c.) 

Now  this  did  not  at  all  keep  pace  with  the  geogra- 
phical knowledge  common  to  both  French  and  Spanish 
towards  the  close  of  this  period.  The  colonists  under 
Laudonniere  and  afterwards  Aviles  himself,  ascended 
the  St.  Johns  certainly  as  far  as  Lake  George,  and 
knew  of  a  great  interior  lake  to  the  south;  Pedro 
Menendez  Marquez,  the  nephew  and  successor  of  the 
latter,  made  a  methodical  survey  of  the  coast  from 
Pensacola  to  near  the  Savannah  river  (from  Santa 
Maria  .de  Galve  to  Santa  Helena;)  and  English  navi- 
gators were  acquainted  with  its  general  outline  and 
the  principal  points  along  the  shore. 

Yet  during  the  whole  of  the  next  century  I  am  not 
aware  of  a  single  map  that  displays  any  signs  of  im- 
provement, or  any  marks  of  increased  information. 
That  inserted  by  De  Laet  in  his  description  of  the 
New  World,  called  Florida  et  ftegiones  Vicinse,  (1633,) 
is  noteworthy  only  because  it  is  one  of  the  first,  if  not 
the  first,  to  locate  along  his  supposed  route  the  native 
towns  and  provinces  met  with  by  De  Soto.  Their 
average  excellence  may  be  judged  from  those  inserted 
in  the  elephantine  work  of  Ogilby  on  America,  (1671,) 


LITERARY  HISTORY.  85 

and  still  better  in  its  Dutch  and  German  paraphrases. 
The  Totius  America  DescriptiOj  by  Gerhard  a  Schagen 
in  the  latter,  is  a  meritorious  production  for  that  age. 

No  sooner,  however,  had  the  English  obtained  a 
firm  footing  in  Carolina  and  Georgia,  and  the  French 
in  Louisiana,  than  a  more  accurate  knowledge  of  their 
Spanish  neighbors  was  demanded  and  acquired.  The 
"  New  Map  of  ye  North  Parts  of  America  claimed  by 
France  under  ye  name  of  Louisiana,  Mississippi,  Cana- 
da, and  New  France,  with  ye  adjoining  Territories  of 
England  and  Spain/'  (London,  1720,)  indicates  con- 
siderable progress,  and  is  memorable  as  the  first  on 
which  the  St.  Johns  is  given  its  true  course,  information 
about  which  its  designer  Herman  Moll,  obtained  from 
the  "Journals  and  Original  Draughts"  of  Captain  Nairn. 
His  map  of  the  West  Indies  contains  a  "Draught  of  St. 
Augustine  and  its  Harbour,"  with  the  localities  of  the 
castle,  town,  monastery,  Indian  church,  &c.,  carefully 
pointed  out;  previous  to  it,  two  plans  of  this  city  had 
appeared,  one,  the  earliest  extant,  engraved  to  accom- 
pany the  narrative  of  Drake's  Voyage  and  Descent  in 
1586,  and  another,  I  know  not  by  whose  hand,  repre- 
senting its  appearance  in  1665.1 

On  the  former  of  these  maps,  "The  South  Bounds 
of  Carolina,"  are  placed  nearly  a  degree  south  of  St. 
Augustine,  thus  usurping  all  the  best  portion  of  the 
Spanish  territory.  This  is  but  an  example  of  the 
great  confusion  that  prevailed  for  a  long  time  as  to 
the  extent  of  the  region  called  Florida.  The  early 

1  See  G.  R.  Fairbanks,  History  and  Antiquities  of  St.  Au- 
gustine, pp.  113,  130,  for  descriptions  of  the  two  latter.  A 
*'Geog.  Description  of  Florida"  is  said  to  have  appeared  at 
London,  in  1665.  Possibly  it  is  the  account  of  Captain  Davis' 
attack  upon  St.  Augustine. 

8 


86  FLOKIDIAN  PENINSULA. 

writers  frequently  embraced  under  this  name  the  whole 
of  North  America  above  Mexico,  distinguishing,  as 
Herrera  and  Torquemada,  between  Florida  explored 
and  unexplored,  (Florida  conocida,  Florida  ignorada,) 
or  as  Christian  Le  Clerq,  between  Spanish  and  French 
and  English  Florida.  Taking  it  in  this  extended  sense, 
Barcia  includes  in  his  Chronology  (Ensayo  Cronologico 
de  la  Florida)  not  only  the  operations  of  the  Spanish 
and  English  on  the  east  coast  of  the  United  States, 
but  also  those  of  the  French  in  Canada  and  the  expedi- 
tions of  Vasquez  Coronado  and  others  in  New  Mexico. 
Nicolas  le  Fer,  on  the  other  hand,  ignoring  the  name 
altogether,  styled  the  whole  region  Louisiana,  (1718,) 
while  the  English,  not  to  be  outdone  in  national  rapa- 
city, laid  claim  to  an  equal  amount  as  Carolina.  De 
Laet1  was  the  first  geographer  who  confined  the  name 
to  the  peninsula.  In  1651  Spain  relinquished  her 
claims  to  all  land  north  of  36°  30'  north  lat.,  but  it 
was  not  till  the  Definitive  Treaty  of  Peace  of  1763, 
that  any  political  attempt  was  made  to  define  its  exact 
boundaries,  and  then,  not  with  such  entire  success,  but 
room  was  left  for  subsequent  disputes  between  our 
government  and  Spain,  only  finally  settled  by  the  sur- 
veys of  Ellicott  at  the  close  of  the  century. 

Neither  Guillaume  de  1'Isle  nor  M.  Bellin,  both  of 
whom  etched  maps  of  Florida  many  years  after  the 
publication  of  that  of  Moll,  seems  to  have  been  aware 
of  his  previous  labors,  or  to  have  taken  advantage  of 
his  more  extensive  information.  In  the  gigantic  Atlas 
Nouveau  of  the  former,  (Amsterdam,  1739,)  are  two 
maps  of  Florida,  evidently  by  different  hands.  The 
one,  Tabula  Geographica  Mexico  et  Florida,  gives  toler- 

1  Descriptio  Indise  Occidentalis,  Lib.  IV.,  cap.  xiii.  (Ant- 
werpt,  1633.) 


LITEEARY  HISTORY.  87 

ably  well  the  general  contour  of  the  peninsula,  and 
situates  the  six  provinces  of  Apalacha  mentioned  by 
Bristock ;  the  other,  Carte  de  la  Louisiane  et  du  Cours 
du  Mississippi,  is  an  enlarged  copy  with  additions  of 
that  published  five  years  previous  in  the  fifth  volume  of 
the  Voyages  au  Nordy  on  which  is  given  the  route  of  De 
Soto.  Bellin's  Carte  des  Costes  de  la  Nouvelle  France 
suivant  les  premieres  Decouvertes  is  found  in  Charle- 
voix's  Nouvelle  France  and  is  of  little  worth. 

The  map  of  "Carolina,  Florida,  and  the  Bahama 
Islands,"  that  accompanies  Catesby's  Natural  History 
of  those  regions,  is  not  so  accurate  as  we  might  ex- 
pect from  the  opportunities  he  enjoyed.  The  peninsula 
is  conceived  as  a  nearly  equilateral  triangle  projecting 
about  two  hundred  and  sixty  miles  towards  the  south. 
Like  other  maps  of  this  period,  it  derives  its  chief 
value  from  locating  Indian  and  Spanish  towns. 

The  dangerous  navigation  of  the  Keys  had  neces- 
sitated their  examination  at  an  early  date.  In  1718, 
Domingo  G-onzales  Carranza  surveyed  them,  as  well  as 
some  portion  of  the  northern  coast,  with  considerable 
care.  His  notes  remained  in  manuscript,  however,  till 
1740,  when  falling  into  the  hands  of  an  Englishman, 
they  were  translated  and  brought  out  at  London  under 
the  title,  "A  Geographical  Description  of  the  Spanish 
West  Indies."  But  how  inefficient  the  knowledge  of 
these  perilous  reefs  remained  for  many  years  is  evident 
on  examining  the  marine  chart  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico, 
by  Tomas  Lopez  and  Juan  de  la  Cruz,  in  1755.  The 
seafaring  English,  when  they  took  possession  of  the 
country,  made  it  their  first  duty  to  get  the  most  exact 
possible  charts  of  these  so  important  points.  No  sooner 
had  the  treaty  been  signed  than  the  Board  of  Admiralty 
dispatched  G.  Gauld,  a  capable  and  energetic  engineer 


88  FLORIDIAN  PENINSULA. 

to  survey  the  coasts,  islands,  and  keys,  east  and  south 
of  Pensacola.  In  this  employment  he  spent  nearly 
twenty  years,  from  1764  to  1781,  when  he  was  taken 
prisoner  by  the  Spanish,  and  shortly  afterwards  died. 
The  results  were  not  made  public  till  1790,  when  they 
appeared  under  the  supervision  of  Dr.  Lorimer,  and, 
in  connection  with  the  Gulf  Pilot  of  Bernard  Romans, 
and  the  sailing  directions  of  De  Brahm,  both  likewise 
engineers  in  the  British  service,  employed  at  the  same 
time  as  Gauld,  constituted  for  half  a  century  the  chief 
foundation  for  the  nautical  charts  of  this  entrance  to 
the  Gulf. 

Among  the  writers  of  the  last  century  who  did  good 
service  to  American  geography,  Thomas  Jefferys,  Geo- 
grapher to  his  Majesty,  deserves  honorable  mention. 
Besides  his  more  general  labors,  he  edited,  in  1763,  the 
compilation  of  Roberts,  and  some  years  after  the  Jour- 
nal of  the  elder  Bartram ;  to  both  he  added  a  general 
map  of  the  region  under  consideration,  "collected  and 
digested  with  great  care  and  labor  from  a  number  of 
French  and  Spanish  charts,"  taken  on  prize  ships,  cor- 
rect enough  as  far  as  regards  the  shore,  but  the  interior 
very  defective;  a  plan  of  Tampa  Bay;  and  one  of  St.  Au- 
gustine and  harbor,  giving  the  depth  of  water  in  each, 
and  on  the  latter  showing  the  site  of  the  sea  wall. 

Besides  those  in  the  Atlas  of  Popple,  of  1772,  the 
following  maps,  published  during  the  last  century,  may 
be  consulted  with  advantage : 

Carolinae,  Floridae  nec-non  Insularum  Bajamensium 
delineatio.  Nuremberg,  1775. 

Tabulae  Mexicanse  et  Floridae,  terrarum  Anglicarum, 
anteriarum  Americse  insularum.  Amstelodami,  apud 
Petrum  Schenck,  circ.  1775. 

A  Map  of  the  Southern  British  Colonies,  containing 


LITERARY  HISTORY.  89 

the  Seat  of  War  in  N.  and  S.  Carolina,- E.  and  W. 
Florida.  By  Bernard  Romans.  London,  1776. 

Plan  of  Amelia  Island  and  Bar,  surveyed  by  Jacob 
Blaney  in  1775.  London,  1776.  . 

Plan  of  Amelia  Island  and  Bar.  By  Wm.  Fuller. 
Edited  by  Thomas  Jeflerys.  London,  1776. 

Piano  de  la  Ciudad  y  Puerto  de  San  Augustin  de  la 
Florida.  Por  Tomas  Lopez.  Madrid,  1783. 

Nothing  was  done  of  any  importance  in  this  depart- 
ment during  the  second  Spanish  supremacy,  but  as 
soon  as  the  country  became  a  portion  of  the  United 
States,  the  energy  both  of  private  individuals  and  the 
government  rapidly  increased  the  fund  of  geographical 
knowledge  respecting  it. 

The  first  map  published  was  that  of  Vignoles,  who, 
an  engineer  himself,  and  deriving  his  facts  from  a  per- 
sonal survey  of  the  whole  eastern  coast  from  St.  Marys 
river  to  Cape  Florida,  makes  a  very  visible  improvement 
on  his  predecessors. 

The  canal  contemplated  at  this  period  from  the  St. 
Johns  or  St.  Marys  to  the  Gulf  gave  occasion  to  level- 
lings  across  the  peninsula  at  two  points,  valuable  for 
the  hypsometrical  data  they  furnish.  Annexed  to  the 
report  (February,  1829,)  is  a  "  Map  of  the  Territory  of 
Florida  from  its  northern  boundary  to  lat.  27°  30'  N. 
connected  with  the  delta  of  the  Mississippi,"  giving 
the  features  of  the  country  and  separate  plans  of  the 
harbors  and  bays. 

The  same  year  J.  K.  Searcy  issued  a  map  of  the 
territory,  "constructed  principally  from  authentic 
documents  in  the  land  office  at  Tallahassie,"  favorably 
mentioned  at  the  time.1 


1  Southern  Review,  Vol.  VI.,  p.  410,  seq. 
8* 


90  FLORIDIAN  PENINSULA/ 

The  map  prefixed  to  his  View  of  West  Florida,  and 
subsequently  to  his  later  work,  by  Colonel  Williams, 
largely  based  on  his  own  researches,  is  a  good  exposi- 
tion of  all  certainly  known  at  that  period  about  the 
geography  of  the  country.  Cape  Romans  is  here  first 
distinguished  as  an  island;  Sharks  river  is  omitted; 
and  Lake  Myaco  or  Okee-chobee  is  not  down,  "  sim- 
ply," says  the  author,  "  because  I  can  find  no  reason 
for  believing  its  existence  !"  Unparalleled  as  such  an 
entire  ignorance  of  a  body  of  water  with  a  superficies 
of  twelve  hundred  square  miles,  in  the  midst  of  a  State 
settled  nigh  half  a  century  before  any  other  in  our 
Union,  which  had  been  governed  for  years  by  English, 
by  Spanish,  and  by  Americans,  may  be,  it  well  illus- 
trates the  impassable  character  of  those  vast  swamps  and 
dense  cypresses  known  as  the  Everglades;  an  impene- 
trability so  complete  as  almost  to  justify  the  assertion 
of  the  State  engineer,  made  as  late  as  1855  :  «  These 
lands  are  now,  and  will  continue  to  be,  nearly  as  much 
unknown  as  the  interior  of  Africa  or  the  mountain 
sources  of  the  Amazon." * 

What  little  we  know  of  this  Terra  Incognita,  is  de- 
rived from  the  notes  of  officers  in  the  Indian  wars,  and 
the  maps  drawn  up  for  the  use  of  the  army.  Among 
these,  that  issued  by  the  War  Department  at  the  re- 
quest of  General  Taylor,  in  1837,  embracing  the  whole 
peninsula,  that  prefixed  to  Sprague's  History,  which 
gives  the  northern  portion  with  much  minuteness, 
and  the  later  one,  in  1856,  of  the  portion  south  of 
Tampa  Bay,  are  the  most  important.  The  latter  gives 
the  topography  of  the  Everglades  and  Big  Cypress  as 
far  as  ascertained. 

1  Report  of  F.  L.  Dancy,  State  Engineer  and  Geologist,  in 
the  Message  of  the  Governor  of  Florida,  with  Accompanying 
Documents,  for  1855,  App.,  p.  9. 


LITEBAKY  HISTORY.  9.1 

While  annual  explorations  are  thus  throwing  more 
and  more  light  on  the  interior  of  the  peninsula,  the 
United  States  Coast  Survey,  now  in  operation,  will 
definitely  settle  all  kindred  questions  relative  to  its 
shores,  harbors,  and  islands ;  and  thus  we  may  look 
forward  to  a  not  distant  day  when  its  geographical 
history  will  be  consummated. 


92  FLOKIDIAN  PENINSULA. 

CHAPTER  II. 

THE  APALACHES. 


Derivation  of  the  name. — Earliest  notices  of. — Visited  and 
described  by  Bristock  in  1653. — Authenticity  of  his  narra- 
tive.— Subsequent  history  and  final  extinction. 

AMONG  the  aboriginal  tribes  of  the  United  States 
perhaps  none  is  more  enigmatical  than  the  Apalaches. 
They  are  mentioned  as  an  important  nation  by  many 
of  the  early  French  and  Spanish  travellers  and  histo- 
rians, their  name  is  preserved  by  a  bay  and  river  on 
the  shores  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  and  by  the  great 
eastern  coast  range  of  mountains,  and  has  been  applied 
by  ethnologists  to  a  family  of  cognate  nations  that 
found  their  hunting-grounds  from  the  Mississippi  to 
the  Atlantic  and  from  the  Ohio  river  to  the  Florida 
Keys  j  yet,  strange  to  say,  their  own  race  and  place 
have  been  but  guessed  at.  Intimately  connected  both 
by  situation  and  tradition  with  the  tribes  of  the 
Floridian  peninsula,  an  examination  of  the  facts  per- 
taining to  their  history  and  civilization  is  requisite  to 
a  correct  knowledge  of  the  origin  and  condition  of  the 
latter. 

The  orthography  of  the  name  is  given  variously  by 
the  older  writers,  Apahlahche,  Abolachi,  Apeolatei, 
Appallatta,  &c.,  and  very  frequently  without  the  first 
letter,  Palaxy,  Palatcy.  Daniel  Coxe,  indeed,  fancifully 
considered  this  first  vowel  the  Arabic  article  «,  al,  pre- 


THE  APAL ACHES.  93 

fixed  by  the  Spaniards  to  the  native  word.1  Its  deri- 
vation has  been  a  questio  vexala  among  Indianologists ; 
Heckewelder3  identified  it  with  Lenape  or  Wapanaki, 
"  which  name  the  French  in  the  south  as  easily  cor- 
rupted into  Apalaches  as  in  the  north  to  Abenakis," 
and  other  writers  have'broached  equally  loose  hypothe- 
sis. Adair3  mentions  a  Chikasah  town,  Palacheho, 
evidently  from  the  same  root  •  but  it  is  not  from  this 
tongue  nor  any  of  its  allies,  that  we  must  explain  its 
meaning,  but  rather  consider  it  an  indication  of  ancient 
connections  with  the  southern  continent,  and  in  itself 
a  pure  Carib  word.  Apdliche  in  the  Tamanaca  dialect 
of  the  Guaranay  stem  on  the  Orinoco  signifies  man,4 
and  the  earliest  application  of  the  name  in  the  north- 
ern continent  was  as  a  title  of  the  chief  of  a  country, 
TJiomme  par  excellence^  and  hence,  like  very  many 
other  Indian  tribes  (Apaches,  Lenni  Lenape,  Illinois,) 
his  subjects  assumed  by  eminence  the  proud  appellation 
of  The  Men.  How  this  foreign  word  came  to  be  im- 
ported will  be  considered  hereafter.  Among  the  tribes 
that  made  up  the  confederacy,  probably  only  one  par- 
took of  the  warring  and  energetic  blood  of  the  Caribs ; 
or  it  may  have  been  assumed  in  emulation  of  a  famous 
neighbor  \  or  it  may  have  been  a  title  of  honor  derived 

1  A  Description  of  the  Province  of  Carolina,  p.  2,  London, 
1727. 

*  Trans.  Hist,  and  Lit.  Com.  of  the  Am.  Phil.  Soc.,  Vol. 
L,  p.  113. 

3  Hist,  of  the  American  Indians,  p.  353. 

*  Gilii'  Saggio  di  Storia  Americana,  Tomo  III.,  p.  375. 

5  Rex  qui  in  hisce  Montibus  habitabat,  Ao.  1562,  dicabatur 
Apalatcy;  ideoque  ipsi  montes  eodem  nomine  vocantur,  is 
written  on  the  map  of  the  country  in  Dapper's  Neue  und  Un- 
bekante  Welt  (Amsterdam,  1673,)  probably  on  the  authority 
of  Ribaut. 


94  FLOKIDIAN  PENINSULA. 

from  the  esoteric  language  of  a  foreign  priesthood,  in- 
stances of  which  are  not  rare  among  the  aborigines. 

In  the  writings  of  the  first  discoverers  they  uni- 
formly hold  a  superior  position  as  the  most  polished, 
the  most  valorous,  and  the  most  united  tribe  in  the 
region  where  they  dwelt.  The  fame  of  their  intre- 
pidity reached  to  distant  nations.  «  Keep  on,  robbers 
and  traitors,"  cried  the  Indians  near  the  Withlacooche 
to  the  soldiers  of  De  Soto,  "  in  Apalache  you  will  re- 
ceive that  chastisement  your  cruelty  deserves."  When 
they  arrived  at  this  redoubted  province  they  found 
cultivated  fields  stretching  on  either  hand,  bearing 
plentiful  crops  of  corn,  beans,  pumpkins,  cucumbers, 
and  plums,1  whose  possessors,  a  race  large  in  stature, 
of  great  prowess,  and  delighting  in  war,  inhabited 
numerous  villages  containing  from  fifty  to  three  hun- 
dred spacious  and  commodious  dwellings,  well  pro- 
tected against  hostile  incursions.  The  French  colo- 
nists heard  of  them  as  distinguished  for  power  and 
wealth,  having  good  store  of  gold,  silver,  and  pearls, 
and  dwelling  near  lofty  mountains  to  the  north ;  and 
Fontanedo,  two  years  a  prisoner  in  their  pow6r,  lauds 
them  as  "  les  meilleurs  Indiens  de  la  Floride"  and 
describes  their  province  as  stretching  far  northward  to 
the  snow-covered  mountains  of  Onagatano  abounding 
in  precious  metals.3 

About  a  century  subsequent  to  these  writers,  we 
find  a  very  minute  and  extraordinary  account  of  a 

1  The  plums  mentioned  by  these  writers  were  probably  the 
fruit  of  the  Prunus  Chicasaw.     This  was  not  an  indigenous 
tree,  but  was  cultivated  by  the  Southern  tribes.     During  his 
travels,  the  botanist   Bartram  never  found  it  wild   in    the 
forests,    "but  always  in  old  deserted  Indian  plantations." 
(Travels,  p.  38.) 

2  See  Appendix  III. 


THE  APALACHES.  95 

nation  called  Apalachites,  indebted  for  its  preservation 
principally  to  the  work  of  the  Abbe*  Rochefort.  It 
has  been  usually  supposed  a  creation  of  his  own  fertile 
brain,  but  a  careful  study  of  the  subject  has  given  me 
a  different  opinion.  The  original  sources  of  his  in- 
formation may  be  entirely  lost,  but  that  they  actually 
existed  can  be  proved  beyond  reasonable  doubt.  They 
were  a  series  of  ephemeral  publications  by  an  «  En- 
glish gentleman''  about  1656,  whose  name  is  variously 
spelled  Bristol,  Bristok,  Brigstock,  and  Bristock,  the 
latter  being  probably  the  correct  orthography.  He 
had  spent  many  years  in  the  West  Indies  and  North 
America,  was  conversant  with  several  native  tongues, 
and  had  visited  Apalacha  in  1653.  Besides  the  above- 
mentioned  fragmentary  notes,  he  promised  a  complete 
narrative  of  his  residence  and  journeys  in  the  New 
World,  but  apparently  never  fulfilled  his  intention. 
Versions  of  his  account  are  found  in  various  writers  of 
the  age.  The  earliest  is  given  by  Rochefort,1  and  was 
translated  with  the  rest  of  the  work  of  that  author  by 
Davies,3  who  must  have  consulted  the  original  tract  of 
Bristock  as  he  adds  particulars  not  found  in  the  Abbe's 
history.  Others  are  met  with  in  the  writings  of  the 
Geographus  Ordinarius,  Nicolas  Sanson  d'  Abbeville,3 
in  the  huge  tomes  of  Ogilby4  and  his  high  and  low 

1  Histoire  Naturelle  et  Morale  des  Illes  Antilles  de  1'Ame- 
rique,  Liv.  II. ,  pp.  331-353.     Rotterdam,  1658. 

2  History  of  the  Caribby  Islands,  London,  1666. 

3  Geographia  Exactissima,  oder  Beschreibung  des  4  Theil 
der  ganzen  Welt  mit  Geographischen  und  Historischen  Rela- 
tionen,  Franckfort  am  Mayn,  1679.  This  is  a  German  trans- 
lation of  D'Abbeville's  geographical  essays.     I  have  not  been 
able  to  learn  when  the  last  part,  •which  contains  Bristock's 
narrative,  was  published  in  French. 

4  America.     London,  1671. 


96  FLORIDIAN  PENINSULA. 

Dutch  paraphrasers  Arnoldus  Montanus1  and  Oliver 
Dapper,3  in  Oldmixon's  history,8  quite  fully  in  the 
later  compilation  that  goes  under  the  name  of  Baum- 
garten's  History  of  America,4  and  in  our  own  days  has 
been  adverted  to  hy  the  distinguished  Indianologist 
H.  R.  Schoolcraft  in  more  than  one  of  his  works.  It 
consists  of  two  parts,  the  one  treating  of  the  tradi- 
tions, the  other  of  the  manners  and  customs  of  the 
Apalachites.  In  order  to  place  the  subject  in  the 
clearest  light  I  shall  insert  a  brief  epitome  of  both. 

The  Apalachites  inhabited  the  region  called  Apa- 
lacha  between  33°  25'  and  37°  north  latitude.  By 
tradition  and  language  they  originated  from  northern 
Mexico,  where  similar  dialects  still  existed.5  The 
Cofachites  were  a  more  southern  nation,  scattered  at 
first  over  the  vast  plains  and  morasses  to  the  south 
along  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  (Theomi),  but  subsequently 
having  been  reduced  by  the  former  nation,  they  set- 
tled a  district  called  Amana,  near  the  mountains  of 
Apalacha,  and  from  this  circumstance  received  the 
name  Caraibe  or  Carib,  meaning  "  bold,  warlike  men/' 
«  strangers,"  and  "  annexed  nation."  In  after  days, 
increasing  in  strength  and  retaining  their  separate  ex- 

1  De  Nieuwe  en  Onbekeende  Weereld.   Amsterdam,  1671. 

2  Die  Unbekante  Neue  Welt.     Amsterdam,  1673. 

3  The  British  Empire  in  America,  Vol.  I.     London,  1708. 

4  Geschichte  von  Amerika,  B.  II.     Halle,  1753.     The  ar- 
ticles in  these  volumes  were  selected  with  much  judgment, 
and  translated  by  J.  F.  Geyfarts  and  J.  F.  Schroeter,  Baum- 
garten  merely  writing  the  bibliographical  introductions.     It 
contains  a  curious  map  entitled  Gegend  der  Provinz  Bemarin  im 
Konigreich  Apalacha. 

6  The  Chikasah  asserted  for  themselves  the  same  origin, 
and  even  their  Mexican  relatives  were  said  to  visit  them  from 
time  to  time.  (Adair,  Hist,  of  the  North  Am.  Indians,  p. 
195.) 


THE  APAL ACHES.  97 

istence,  they  asserted  independence,  refused  homage  to 
the  king  of  Apalacha,  and  slighted  the  worship  of 
the  sun.  Wars  consequently  arose,  extending  at  in- 
tervals over  several  centuries,  resulting  in  favor  of  the 
Cofachites,  whose  dominion  ultimately  extended  from 
the  mountains  in  the  north  to  the  shores  of  the  Gulf 
and  the  river  St.  Johns  on  the  south.  Finding  them- 
selves too  weak  to  cope  openly  with  such  a  powerful 
foe,  the  Apalachites  had  recourse  to  stratagem.  Taking 
advantage  of  a  temporary  peace,  their  priests  used 
the  utmost  exertions  to  spread  abroad  among  their 
antagonists  a  religious  veneration  of  the  sun  and  a 
belief  in  the  necessity  of  an  annual  pilgrimage  to  his 
sacred  mountain  Olaimi  in  Apalacha.  So  well  did 
their  plan  succeed,  that  when  at  the  resumption  of 
hostilities,  the  Apalachitea  forbade  the  ingress  of  all 
pilgrims  but  those  who  would  do  homage  to  their 
king,  a  schism,  bitter  and  irreconcileable,  was  brought 
about  among  the  Cofachites.  Finally  peace  was  re- 
stored by  a  migration  of  those  to  whom  liberty  was 
dearer  than  religion,  and  a  submission  of  the  rest  to 
the  Apalachites,  with  whom  they  became  amalgamated 
and  lost  their  identity.  Their  more  valiant  compan- 
ions, after  long  wanderings  through  unknown  lands  in 
search  of  a  home,  finally  locate  themselves  on  the 
southern  shore  of  Florida.  Islanders  from  the  Baha- 
mas, driven  thither  by  storms,  tell  them  of  lands, 
fertile  and  abounding  in  game,  yet  uninhabited  and 
unclaimed,  lying  to  the  southwards ;  they  follow  their 
advice  and  direction,  traverse  the  Gulf  of  Florida,  and 
settle  the  island  of  Ayay,  now  Santa  Cruz.  From 
this  centre  colonies  radiated,  till  the  majority  of  the 
islands  and  no  small  portion  of  the  southern  mainland 
was  peopled  by  their  race. 
9 


98  FLOKIDIAN  PENINSULA. 

Such  is  the  sum  of  Bristock's  singular  account.  It 
is  either  of  no  credibility  whatever,  or  it  is  a  distorted 
version  of  floating,  dim  traditions,  prevalent  among 
the  indigenes  of  the  West  Indies  and  the  neighboring 
parts  of  North  America.  I  am  inclined  to  the  latter 
opinion,  and  think  that  Bristock,  hearing  among  the 
Caribs  rumors  of  a  continent  to  the  north,  and  subse- 
quently finding  powerful  nations  there,  who,  in  turn, 
knew  of  land  to  the  south  and  spoke  of  ancient  wars 
and  migrations,  wove  the  fragments  together,  filled  up 
the  blanks,  and  gave  it  to  the  world  as  a  veritable  his- 
tory. To  support  this  view,  let  us  inquire  whether 
any  knowledge  of  each  other  actually  existed  between 
the  inhabitants  of  the  islands  and  the  northern  main- 
land, and  how  far  this  knowledge  extended. 

The  reality  of  the  migration,  though  supported  by 
some  facts,  must  be  denied  of  the  two  principal  races, 
the  Caribs  and  Arowauks,  who  peopled  the  islands  at 
the  time  of  their  discovery.  The  assertions  of  Barcia, 
Herrera,  and  others  that  they  were  originally  settled 
by  Indians  from  Florida  have '  been  abundantly  dis- 
proved by  the  profound  investigations  of  Alphonse  D' 
Orbigny  in  South  America.1  On  the  other  hand, 
that  the  Cubans  and  Lucayans  had  a  knowledge  of  the 
peninsula  not  only  in  the  form  of  myths  but  as  a  real 
geographical  fact,  even  having  specific  names  in  their 
own  tongues  for  it  (Cautio,  Jaguaza),  is  declared  by 
the  unanimous  voice  of  historians. 

1  Numerous  references  showing  the  prevalence  of  this  error 
are  adduced  by  D'Orbigny,  L'Homme  Americam,  Tom.  II., 
p.  275,  et  seq.  Among  later  authors  who  have  been  misled 
by  such  authorities  are  Humboldt,  ("  Reise  nach  dem  Tropen, 
B.  V.,  s.  181,")  and  the  eminent  naturalist  F.  J.  F.  Meyen, 
(Ueber  die  Ur-Eingebornen  von  Peru,  s.  6,  in  the  Nov.  Act. 
Acad.  Caesar.  Leopold.  Carolin.  Nat.  Cur.  Vol.  XVII., 
Sup.  I.) 


THE  APAL  ACHES.  99 

The  most  remarkable  of  these  myths  was  that  of 
the  fountain  of  Kfe,  placed  by  some  in  the  Lucayos, 
but  generally  in  a  fair  and  genial  land  to  the  north.1 
From  the  tropical  forests  of  Central  America  to  the 
coral-bound  Antilles  the  natives  told  the  Spaniards 
marvellous  tales  of  a  fountain  whose  magic  waters 
would  heal  the  sick,  rejuvenate  the  aged,  and  confer 
an  ever-youthful  immortality.  It  may  have  originated 
in  a  confused  tradition  of  a  partial  derivation  from  the 
mainland  and  subsequent  additions  thence  received 
from  time  to  time,  or  more  probably  from  the  adora- 
tion of  some  of  the  very  remarkable  springs  abundant 
on  the  peninsula,  perchance  that  wonderful  object  the 
Silver  Spring,2  round  which  I  found  signs  of  a  dense 

1  Writers  disagree  somewhat  as  to  the  situation   of  this 
fountain.     Hackluyt  (Vol.  V.,  p.  251)  and  Gomara  (Hist,  de 
las  Indias  Occidentales,  Cap  XLV.,  pp.  31,  35)  locate  it  on 
the  island  Boiuca  or  Agnaneo,  125  leagues  north  of  Hispani- 
ola.  Some  placed  it  on  the  island  Bimini, — which,  says  Oviedo, 
is  40  leagues  west  of  Bahama  (Pt.  I.,  lib.  xix.,    cap.  xv., 
quoted  in  Navarrete,) — a  name  sometimes  applied  to  Florida 
itself,  as  on  the  Chart  of  Cristobal  de  Topia  given  in  the  third 
volume  of  Navarrete.    Herrera,  La  Vega,  Fontanedo,  Barcia, 
Navarrete  and  most  others  agree  in  referring  it  to  Florida. 
Fontanedo  confuses  it  with  the  river  Jordan  and  the  Espiritu 
Santo  or  Mississippi.     Gomara  (ubi  supra,  p.  31)  gives   a 
unique  interpretation  to  this  myth  and  one  quite  in  accord- 
ance with  the  Spanish  character,  namely,  that  it  arose  from 
the  rare  beauty  of  the  women  of  that  locality,  which  was  so 
superlative  that   old  men,  gazing  upon  it,  would  feel  them- 
selves restored  to  the  vigor  of  youth.     In  this  he  is  followed 
by  Ogilby.     (America,  p.  344.) 

2  See  Appendix  I.     The  later  Indians  of  Florida  seem  to 
have  preserved  certain  relics  of  a  superstitious  veneration  of 
the  aqueous  element.     Their  priests  had  a  certain  holy  water, 
sanctified  by  blowing  upon  it  and  incantation,  thought  to 
possess  healing  virtues  (Nar.  of  Oceola  Nikkanoche,  p.  141;) 
Coacooche  said  that  when  the  spirit  of  his  twin-sister  came  to 
him  from  the  land  of  souls,  she  offered  him  a  cup  of  pure 


100  FLORIDIAN  PENINSULA. 

early  population,  its  virtues  magnified  by  time,  dis- 
tance, and  the  arts  of  priests.  We  know  how  inti- 
mately connected  is  the  worship  of  the  sun  with  the 
veneration  of  water ;  heat  typifying  the  masculine, 
moisture  the  feminine  principle.  The  universality  of 
their  association  in  the  Old  World  cosmogonies  and 
mythologies  is  too  well-known  to  need  specification, 
and  it  is  quite  as  invariable  in  those  of  the  New  Con- 
tinent. That  such  magnificent  springs  as  occur  in  Flo- 
rida should  have  become  objects  of  special  veneration, 
and  their  fame  bruited  far  and  wide,  and  handed  down 
form  father  to  son,  is  a  most  natural  consequence  in 
such  faiths.1 

Certain  it  is  that  long  before  these  romantic  tales 
had  given  rise  to  the  expeditions  of  De  Leon,  Narvaez, 
and  De  Soto,  many  natives  of  the  Lucayos,  of  Cuba, 
even  of  Yucatan  and  Honduras,2  had  set  out  in  search 
of  this  mystic  fount.  Many  were  lost,  while  some 
lived  to  arrive  on  the  Floridian  coast,  where  finding  it 
impossible  either  to  proceed  or  return,  they  formed 
small  villages,  "  whose  race,"  adds  Barcia,3  writing  in 

water,  "which  she  said  came  from  the  spring  of  the  Great 
Spirit,  and  if  I  should  drink  of  it,  I  ^hould  return  and  live 
with  her  for  ever."  (Sprague,  Hist.  Florida  War,  p.  328.) 

1  Parallel  myths  are  found  in  various  other  nations.     Sir 
John  Maundeville  speaks  of  the  odoriferous  fountain  of  youth 
near  the  river  Indus,  and  Ellis  mentions  "the  Hawaiian  ac- 
count of  the  voyage  of  Kamapiikai  to  the  land  where  the 
inhabitants  enjoy  perpetual  health,  where  the  wai  ora  (life- 
giving  fountain)  removed  every  internal  malady  and  external 
deformity  or  decrepitude  from  those  who  were  plunged  be- 
neath its  salutary  waters."     (Polynesian  Researches,  Vol  I, 
p.  103.) 

2  Fontanedo,  Memoire,  pp.  17,  18,  19,  32,  39.     Gomara, 
Hist,  de  las  Indias,  cap.  XLL,  p.  31. 

3  Intro,  to  the  Ensay.  Cron. ;  Fontanedo  makes  the  same 
statement. 


THE  APALACHES.  101 

1722,  "is  still  in  existence"  (cuia  generacion  aun 
dura).  This  statement,  which  the  cautious  investiga- 
tor Navarrete  confirms,1  seems  less  improbable  when 
we  reflect  that  in  after  times  it  was  no  uncommon  in- 
cident for  the  natives  of  Cuba  to  cross  the  Gulf  of 
Florida  in  their  open  boats  to  escape  the  slavery  of 
the  Spaniards,3  that  the  Lucayans  had  frequent  com- 
munication with  the  mainland,3  that  the  tribes  of 
South  Florida,  as  early  as  1695,  carried  on  a  consider- 
able trade  with  Havana,4  that  the  later  Indians  on  the 
Suwannee  would  on  their  trading  excursions  not  only 
descend  this  river  in  their  large  cypress  canoes,  but 
proceed  "  quite  to  the  point  of  Florida,  and  sometimes 
cross  the  Gulph,  extending  their  navigations  to  the 
Bahama  islands  and  even  to  Cuba,"5  and  finally  that 
nothing  was  more  common  to  such  a  seafaring  nation 
as  the  Caribs  than  a  voyage  of  this  length.6 

Another  remarkable  myth,  which  certainly  points  for 
its  explanation  to  an  early  and  familiar  intercourse 
between  the  islands  and  the  mainland,  is  the  singular 

1  Despues  de  establecido  los  Espanoles  en  las  Islas  de  Santo 
Domingo,  Cuba,  y  Puerto  Rico,  averiguaron  que  los  naturales 
conservaban  algunas  ideas  vagas  de  tierras  situadas  a  la  parte 
septentrional,  donde  entre  otras  cosas  maravillosas  referian 
la  existencia  de  cierta  fuente  y  rio,  cuyas  aguas  remozaban  a 
los  viejos  que  en  ella  se  banaban ;  preocupacion  tan  anejay 
arraigada  en  los  Indios,  que  aun  antes  de  la  llegada  de  los 
espanoles  los  habia  conducido  a  establecer  alii  una  colonia. 
Viages  y  Descubrimientos,  Tomo  III.,  p.  60. 

2  L'Art  de  Verifier  les  Dates,  Chrouologie  Historique  de 
1'Amerique,  Tome  VIII.,  p.  185. 

3  Herrera,  Dec.  I.,  Lib.  IX.,  cap.  XL,  p.  249. 

4  Barcia,  Ensay.  Cron.,  Auo  Ib98,  p.  317,  Careri,  Voyage 
round  the  World,  in  Churchill's  Coll.  Vol.  IV.,  p.  537. 

5  William  Bartram,  Travels,  p.  227. 

6  See  Labat,  Voyage  aux  Isles  de  1'Amerique,  Tome  I.,  p. 
136,  and  Hughes,  Nat.  Hist  of  Barbadoes,  p.  5. 

9* 


102        FLOEIDIAN  PENINSULA. 

geognostic  tradition  prevalent  among  the  Lucayans, 
preserved  by  Peter  of  Anghiera,  to  the  effect  that  this 
archipelago  was  originally  united  to  the  continent  by 
firm  land.1  Doubtless  it  was  on  such  grounds  that 
the  Spaniards  concluded  that  they  owed  their  original 
settlement  to  migrations  from  the  Floridian  peninsula. 
Turning  our  attention  now  to  this  latter  land,  we 
should  have  cause  to  be  surprised  did  we  not  find 
signs  that  such  adventurous  navigators  as  the  Caribs 
had  planned  and  executed  incursions  and  settlements 
there.  That  these  signs  are  so  sparse  and  unsatisfac- 
tory we  owe  not  so  much  to  their  own  rarity  as  to  the 
slight  weight  attached  to  such  things  by  the  early  ex- 
plorers and  discoverers.  From  the  accounts  we  do 
possess,  however,  there  can  be  no  doubt  but  that  ves- 
tiges of  the  Caribbean  tongue,  if  not  whole  tribes 
identical  with  them  in  language  and  customs,  have 
been  met  with  from  time  to  time  on  the  peninsula.3 
The  striking  similarity  in  the  customs  of  flattening 
the  forehead,  in  poisoning  weapons,  in  the  use  of  hol- 
low reeds  to  propel  arrows,  in  the  sculpturing  on  war 
clubs,  construction  of  dwellings,  exsiccation  of  corpses,3 

1  Jucaias   a  conjecturis  junctas  fuisse    quondam   reliquis 
magnis  insulis[nostri  arbitrantur,  et  ita  fuiseea  suis  majoribus 
creditum  incolse  fatentur.  Sed  vitempestatepaulatim  absorpta 
tellure  alterne  secessisse,  pelago  interjecto  uti  de  messenensi 
freto  est  autorum  opinio  Siciliam  ab  Italia  dirimente,  quod 
una  esset  quondam  contigua.     De  Novo  Orbe,  Dec.  VII.,  cap. 
II.,  p.  468,  Editio  Hackluyti,  Parisiis,  1587- 

2  On  this  topic  consult  Baumgarten,  Geschichte  von  Ame- 
rika,  B.  II.,  s.  583 ;  Jefferys,  Hist  of  the  French  Dominion 
in  America,  Pt.  II.,  p.  181;  Adelung,  Allgemeine  Sprachen- 
kunde,  Th.  II.,  Ab.  II.,  s.  681 ;  Barton,  New  Views  of  the 
Tribes  of  America,  p.  Ixxi.  ;  Hervas,  Catalogo  de  las  Len- 
guas  conocidas,  Totno  I.,  p.  387. 

a  See  Appendix  II. 


THE   APALACHES.  103 

burning  the  houses  of  the  dead,  and  other  rites, 
though  far  from  conclusive  are  yet  not  without  a 
decided  weight.  It  is*  much  to  be  regretted  that  Adair 
has  left  us  no  fuller  information  of  those  seven  tribes 
on  the  Koosah  river,  who  spoke  a  different  tongue 
from  the  Muskohge  and  preserved  "  a  fixed  oral  tradi- 
tion that  they  formerly  came  from  South  America,  and 
after  sundry  struggles  in  defence  of  liberty  settled 
their  present  abode."1 

Thus  it  clearly  appears  that  the  frame,  so  to  speak, 
of  the  traditions  preserved  by  Bristock  actually  did 
exist  and  may  be  proved  from  other  writers.  .But  we 
are  still  more  strongly  convinced  that  his  account  is  at 
least  founded  on  fact,  when  we  compare  the  manners 
and  customs  of  the  Apalachites,  as  he  gives  them, 
with  those  of  the  Cherokee,  Choktah,  Chickasah,  and 
Muskohge,  tribes  plainly  included  by  him  under  this 
name,  and  proved  by  the  philological  researches  of  Gal- 
latin  to  have  occupied  the  same  location  since  De  Soto's 
expedition.3  We  need  have  no  suspicion  that  he  pla- 
giarized from  other  authors,  as  the  particulars  he  men- 
tions are  not  found  in  earlier  writers ;  and  it  was  not 
till  1661  that  the  English  settled  Carolina,  not  till 
1699  that  Iberville  built  his  little  fort  on  the  Bay  of 
Biloxi,  and  many  years  elapsed  between  this  latter  and 
the  general  treaty  of  Oglethorpe.  If  then  we  find  a 
close  similarity  in  manners,  customs,  and  religions,  we 
must  perforce  concede  his  accounts,  such  as  they  have 
reached  us,  a  certain  degree  of  credit. 

1  Hist,  of  the  North  Am.  Indians,  p.  267. 

2  Trans.  Am   Antiq.  Soc.  Vol.  II.,  p.  103  seq.   Bossu  found 
the  tradition  of  De  Soto's  invasion  rife  among  the  Alibamons 
(Creeks)  of  his  day.     (Nouv.  Voyages  aux  Indes  Occident. 
Ft.  II.,  pp.  34,  35.     Paris,  1768.) 


104  FLORIDIAN  PENINSULA. 

He  begins  by  stating  that  Apalacha  was  divided 
into  six  provinces;  Duinont,1  writing  from  independent 
observation  about  three-fourths  of  a  century  afterwards, 
makes  the  same  statement.  Their  towns  were  inclosed 
with  stakes  or  live  hedges,  the  houses  built  of  stakes 
driven  into  the  ground  in  an  oval  shape,  were  plastered 
with  mud  and  sand,  whitewashed  without,  and  some  of 
a  reddish  glistening  color  within  from  a  peculiar  kind 
of  sand,  thatched  with  grass,  and  only  five  or  six  feet 
high,  the  council-house  being  usually  on  an  elevation.2 
If  the  reader  will  turn  to  the  authorities  quoted  in  the 
subjoined  note,  he  will  find  this  an  exact  description  of 
the  towns  and  single  dwellings  of  the  later  Indians.3 
The  women  manufactured  mats  of  down  and  feathers 
with  the  same  skill  that  a  century  later  astonished 


1  Memoires  Historiques  sur  la  Louisiane,  Tome  II.,  p.  301. 

2  The  Cherokees   plastered   their  houses  both   roofs  and 
walls  inside  and  out  with  clay  and  dried  grass,  and  to  com- 
pensate for  the  lowness  of  the  walls  excavated  the  floor  as 
much  as  three  or  four  feet.     From  this  it  is  probable  they 
were   the    "  Indi  delle  Vacche"   of  Cabeza   de   Vaca   "tra 
queste  case  ve  ne  havea  alcune  che  erano  di  terra,  e  tutte 
1'altre  sono  di  stuore."     (Di  Alvaro  Nunnes  Relatione  in  Ra- 
musio,  Viaggi,  Tom.  III.,  fol.  327,  B.)     A  similar  construc- 
tion was  noticed  by  Biedma  in  Acapachiqui  where  the  houses 
"  etaient  creuse'es  sous  terre  et  rassemblaient  a  des  cavernes," 
(Relation,  pp.  60,  61,)  by  the  Portuguese  Gentlemen  in  Capa- 
chiqui,  (Hackluyt,  Vol.  V.,  p.  498,)  and  by  La  Vega  among 
the  Cofachiqui,  (Conq.  de  la  Florida,  Lib.  III.,  cap.  XV.,  p. 
131.)     Hence  the  Cherokees  are  identical  with  the  latter  and 
not  with  the  Achalaques,  as  Schoolcraft  erroneously  advances. 
(Thirty  Years  with  the  Indian  Tribes,  p.  595.)     I  suppose  it 
was  from  this  peculiar  style  of  building  that  the  Iroquois 
called  them  Owaudah,  a  people  who  live  in  caves.     (School- 
craft,  Notes  on  the  Iroquois,  p.  163.) 

3  Adair,  Hist,  of  the  N.  Am.  Inds.,  pp.  413,  420,  421 ;  Wra. 
Bartram,  Travels,  pp.  367,  388 ;  Le  Page  Dupratz,  Hist,  of 
Louisiana,  Vol.  II.,  pp.  351-2. 


THE  APALACHES.  105 

Adair,1  and  spun  like  these  the  wild  hemp  and  the 
mulberry  bark  into  various  simple  articles  of  clothing. 
The  fantastic  custom  of  shaving  the  hair  on  one-half 
the  head,  and  permitting  the  other  half  to  remain,  on 
certain  emergencies,  is  also  mentioned  by  later  tra- 
vellers.55 Their  food  was  not  so  much  game  as  peas, 
beans,  maize,  and  other  vegetables,  produced  by  culti- 
vation ;  and  the  use  of  salt  obtained  from  vegetable 
ashes,  so  infrequent  among  the  Indians,  attracted  the 
notice  of  Bristock  as  well  as  Adair.3  Their  agricul- 
tural character  reminds  us  of  the  Choktahs,  among 
whom  the  men  helped  their  wives  to  labor  in  the 
field,  and  whom  Bernard  Romans4  called  "a  nation  of 
farmers."  In  Apalache,  says  Dumont,5  "we  find  a 
less  rude,  more  refined  nation,  peopling  its  meads  and 
fertile  vales,  cultivating  the  earth,  and  living  on  the 
abundance  of  excellent  fruit  it  produces." 

Strange  as  a  fairy  tale  is  Bristock's  description  of 
their  chief  temple  and  the  rites  of  their  religion — of 
the  holy  mountain  Olaimi  lifting  its  barren,  round 
summit  far  above  the  capital  city  Melilot  at  its  base — 
of  the  two  sacred  caverns  within  this  mount,  the  inner- 
most two  hundred  feet  square  and  one  hundred  in 
height,  wherein  were  the  emblematic  vase  ever  filled 
with  crystal  water  that  trickled  from  the  rock,  and  the 
"grand  altar"  of  one  round  stone,  on  which  incense, 
spices,  and  aromatic  shrubs  were  the  only  offerings — 
of  the  platform,  sculptured  from  the  solid  rock,  where 

1  Hist.  N.  Am.  Inds.,  pp.  422-3. 

2  Fran9ois  Coreal,  Voyages,  Tome  I.,  p.  31 ;  Cateslby,  Ac- 
count of  Florida  and  the  Bahama  Islands,  p.  Tiii. 

3  Hist.  N.  Am.  Inds.,  p.  116. 

4  Nat.  Hist,  of  E.  and  W.  Florida,  pp.  71,  83. 

5  Mems.  Hist,  sur  la  Louisiane,  Tome  II.,  p.  301. 


106  FLOBIDIAN  PENINSULA. 

the  priests  offered  their  morning  orisons  to  the  glorious 
orb  of  their  divinity  at  his  daily  birth — of  their  four 
great  annual  feasts — all  reminding  us  rather  of  the 
pompous  rites  of  Persian  or  Peruvian  heliolatry  than 
the  simple  sun  worship  of  the  Vespcric  tribes.  Yet 
in  essentials,  in  stated  yearly  feasts,  in  sun  and  fire 
worship,  in  daily  prayers  at  rising  and  getting  sun, 
in  frequent  ablution,  we  recognize  through  all  this 
exaggeration  and  coloring,  the  religious  habits  that 
actually  prevailed  in  those  regions.  Indeed,  the  specu- 
lative antiquarian  may  ask  concerning  Mount  Olaimi 
itself,  whether  it  may  not  be  identical  with  the  enor- 
mous mass  of  granite  known  as  "The  Stone  Mountain" 
in  De  Kalb  county,  Georgia,  whose  summit  presents  an 
oval,  flat,  and  naked  surface  two  or  three  hundred  yards 
in  width,  by  about  twice  that  in  length,  encircled  by 
the  remains  of  a  mural  construction  of  unknown  an- 
tiquity, and  whose  sides  are  pierced  by  the  mouths  of 
vast  caverns;1  or  with  Lookout  mountain  between 
the  Coosa  and  Tennessee  rivers,  where  Mr.  Ferguson 
found  a  stone  wall  "  thirty-seven  roods  and  eight  feet 
in  length,"  skirting  the  brink  of  a  precipice  at  whose 
base  were  five  rooms  artificially  constructed  in  the  solid 
rock.3 

One  of  the  the  most  decisive  proofs  of  the  veracity 
of  Bristock's  narrative  is  his  assertion  that  they  mum- 
mified the  corpses  of  their  chiefs  previous  to  interment. 

1  George  White,  Hist.  Colls,  of  Georgia,  p.  423.     It  has 
also  been  described  to  me  by  a  gentleman  resident  in  the 
vicinity. 

2  See  the  Christian  Advocate  and  Journal  for   1832,  and 
the  almost  unintelligible  abstract  of  the   article   in  Josiah 
Priest's  American  Antiquities,  pp.  169,  170,  (third  edition, 
Albany,  1833.)     Though  the  account  is  undoubtedly  exag- 
gerated, it  would  merit  further  investigation. 


THE  APAL ACHES.  107 

Recent  discoveries  of  such  mummies  leave  us  no  room 
to  doubt  the  prevalence  of  this  custom  among  various 
Indian  tribes  east  of  the  Mississippi.  It  is  of  so  much 
interest  to  the  antiquarian,  that  I  shall  add  in  an 
Appendix  the  details  given  on  this  point  by  later 
writers,  as  well  as  an  examination  of  the  origin  of 
those  mummies  that  have  been  occasionally  disinterred 
in  the  caves  of  Tennessee  and  Kentucky.1 

One  other  topic  for  examination  in  Bristock's  me- 
moir yet  remains — the  scattered  words  of  the  language 
he  mentions.  The  principal  are  the  following;3 

Mayrdock — the  Viracocha  of  their  traditions. 

Naarim — the  month  of  March. 

Theomi — proper  name  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 

Jauas — priests. 

Tlatuici — the  mountain  tribes. 

Paracussi — chief;  a  generic  term. 

Bersaykau — vale  of  cedars. 

Akueyas — deer. 

Hitanachi — pleasant,  beautiful. 

Tonatzuli — heavenly  singer;  the  name  of  a  bird 
sacred  to  the  sun. 

Several  of  these  words  may  be  explained  from 
tongues  with  which  we  are  better  acquainted. 

Jauas  and  Paracussi  are  words  used  in  the  sense 
they  here  bear  in  many  early  writers;  the  derivation 
of  the  former  will  be  considered  hereafter;  that  of  the 
latter  is  uncertain.  Tlatuici  is  doubtless  identical 
with  Tsalakie,  the  proper  appellation  of  the  Cherokee 
tribe.  Akueyas  has  a  resemblance,  though  remote,  to 

1  See  Appendix  II. 

2  I  give  these  according  to  the  orthography  of  Baumgarten, 
who  may  differ  slightly  from  other  writers. 


108  FLQRIDIAN  PENINSULA. 

the  Seminole  ekko  of  the  same  signification.  In 
hitanacTii  we  recognize  the  Choktah  intensitive  prefix 
hhito;  and  in  tonatzuli  a  compound  of  the  Choktah 
verb  taloa,  he  sings,  in  one  of  its  forms,  with  sliutik, 
Muskohge  sootah,  heaven  or  sky.  A  closer  examina- 
tion would  doubtless  reveal  other  analogies,  but  the 
above  are  sufficient  to  show  that  these  were  no  mere 
unmeaning  words,  coined  by  a  writer's  fancy. 

The  general  result  of  these  inquiries,  therefore,  is 
strongly  in  favor  of  the  authenticity  of  Bristock's  nar- 
rative. Exaggerated  and  distorted  though  it  be,  never- 
theless it  is  the  product  of  actual  observation,  and 
deserves  to  be  classed  among  our  authorities,  though  as 
one  to  be  used  with  the  greatest  caution.  We  have  also 
found  that  though  no  general  migration  took  place  from 
the  continent  southward,  nor  from  the  islands  north- 
ward, yet  there  was  considerable  intercourse  in  both 
directions ;  that  not  only  the  natives  of  the  greater  and 
lesser  Antilles  and  Yucatan,  but  also  numbers  of  the 
Guaranay  stem  of  the  southern  continent,  the  Caribs 
proper,  crossed  the  Straits  of  Florida  and  founded 
colonies  on  the  shores  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico;  that 
their  customs  and  language  became  to  a  certain  extent 
grafted  upon  those  of  the  earlier  possessors  of  the  soil; 
and  to  this  foreign  language  the  name  Apalache  be- 
longs. As  previously  stated,  it  was  used  as  a  generic 
title,  applied  to  a  confederation  of  many  nations  at  one 
time  under  the  domination  of  one  chief,  whose  power 
probably  extended  from  the  Alleghany  mountains  on 
the  north  to  the  shore  of  the  Gulf;  that  it  included 
tribes  speaking  a  tongue  closely  akin  to  the  Choktah 
is  evident  from  the  fragments  we  have  remaining. 
This  is  further  illustrated  by  a  few  words  of  "  Appa- 


THE  APAL ACHES.  109 

lachian,"  preserved  by  John  Chamberlayne.1  These, 
with  their  congeners  in  cognate  dialects,  are  as  fol- 
lows: 

Apalachian.  Choktah.          Muskohge. 

Father  kelke  aunkky,  unky     ilkhy 

Heaven  hetucoba  ubbah,    intensi- 

tive,  hhito 

Earth  ahan  yahkna  ikahnah 

Bread  pasca  puska 

The  location  of  the  tribe  in  after  years  is  very  un- 
certain.  Dumont  placed  them  in  the  northern  part  of 
what  is  now  Alabama  and  Georgia,  near  the  mountains 
that  bear  their  name.  That  a  portion  of -them  did  live 
in  this  vicinity  is  corroborated  by  the  historians  of 
South  Carolina,  who  say  that  Colonel  Moore,  in  1703, 
found  them  "  between  the  head-waters  of  the  Savannah 
and  Altamaha."3  De  1'Isle,  also,  locates  them  between 
the  R.  dcs  Caouitas  ou  R.  de  Mai  and  the  R.  des 
Chaouanos  ou  d'EdiscOj  both  represented  as  flowing 
nearly  parallel  from  the  mountains. 

According  to  all  the  Spanish  authorities  on  the  other 
hand,  they  dwelt  in  the  region  of  country  between  the 
Suwannee  and  Apalachicola  rivers — yet  must  not  be 
confounded  with  the  Apalachicolos.  Thus  St.  Marks 
was  first  named  San  Marco  de  Apalache,  and  it  was 
near  here  that  Narvaez  and  De  Soto  found  them. 
They  certainly  had  a  large  and  prosperous  town  in 
this  vicinity,  said  to  contain  a  thousand  warriors, 
whose  chief  was  possessed  of  much  influence.3  De 

1  Oratio  Dominica  Polyglotta,   Amstehedami,  1715.     He 
does  not  state  where  he  obtained  them. 

2  Hewitt,  History  of  South  Carolina,  Vol.  I.  p  156. 

3  El  Cacique  principal  de  Apalache,  Superior  de  muchos 
Caciques,  Barcia,  Ensay.  Cron.,  p.  323. 

10 


110  FLORIDIAN   PENINSULA. 

1'Isle  makes  this  their  original  locality,  inscribing  it 
"Icy  estoient  cy  devant  les  Apalaches"  and  their  posi- 
tion in  his  day  as  one  acquired  subsequently.  That 
they  were  driven  from  the  Apalachicola  by  the  Aliba- 
mons  and  other  western  tribes  in  1705,  does  not  admit 
of  a  doubt,  yet  it  is  equally  certain  that  at  the  time  of 
the  cession  of  the  country  to  the  English,  (1763,)  they 
retained  a  small  village  near  St.  Marks,  called  San 
Juan.1  I  am  inclined  to  believe  that  these  were  dif- 
ferent branches  of  the  same  confederacy,  and  the  more 
so  as  we  find  a  similar  discrepancy  in  the  earliest  nar- 
ratives of  the  French  and  Spanish  explorers. 

In  the  beginning  of  the  eighteenth  century  they 
suffered  much  from  the  devastations  of  the  English, 
French,  and  Creeks;  indeed,  it  has  been  said,  though 
erroneously,  that  the  last  remnant  of  their  tribe 
"was  totally  destroyed  by  the  Creeks  in  1719." 2 
About  the  time  Spain  regained  possession  of  the  soil, 
they  migrated  to  the  West  and  settled  on  the  Bayou 
B-apide  of  Red  River.  Here  they  had  a  village  num- 
bering about  fifty  souls,  and  preserved  for  a  time  at 
least  their  native  tongue,  though  using  the  French  and 
Mobilian  (Chikasah)  for  common  purposes.3  Breck- 
enridge,4  who  saw  them  here,  describes  them  as 
"wretched  creatures,  who  are  diminishing  daily." 
Probably  by  this  time  the  last  representative  of  this 
once  powerful  tribe  has  perished. 

1  Roberts,  Hist,  of  Florida,  p.  14. 

2  Schoolcraft's  Ind.  Tribes,  Vol.  V.  p.  259. 

8  Schermerhorn,  Report  on  the  Western  Indians  in  Mass. 
Hist.  Colls.  Vol.  II.  (2  ser.,)  p.  26;  Alcedo,  Hist,  and  Geog. 
Diet,  of  America,  Vol.  I.,  p.  82. 

4  Views  of  Louisiana,  p.  150. 


TKIBES  OF  THE  SIXTEENTH   CENTURY.      Ill 

CHAPTER  III. 

PENINSULAR  TRIBES  OP  THE  SIXTEENTH  CENTURY. 

g  1.  SITUATION  AND  SOCIAL  CONDITION. — Caloosas. — Tegesta 

and  Ais.  —  Tocobaga. —  Vitachuco. —  Utina. —  Soturiba. — 

Method  of  Government. 
\  2.  CIVILIZATION. — Appearance. — Games.  —  Agriculture. — 

Construction  of  Dwellings. — Clothing. 
§  3.  RELIGION. — General  Remarks. — Festivals  in  honor  of 

the     Sun    and    Moon. — Sacrifices. — Priests. — Sepulchral 

Rites. 
§  4.  LANGUAGES. — Timuquana  Tongue. — Words  preserved  by 

the  French. 

§  1. — SITUATION  AND  SOCIAL  CONDITION. 

WHEN  in  the  sixteenth  century  the  Europeans 
began  to  visit  Florida  they  did  not,  as  is  asserted  by 
the  excellent  bishop  of  Chiapa,  meet  with  numerous 
well  ordered  and  civilized  nations,1  but  on  the  contrary 
found  the  land  sparsedly  peopled  by  a  barbarous  and 
quarrelsome  race  of  savages,  rent  asunder  into  mani- 
fold petty  clans,  with  little  peaceful  leisure  wherein  to 
better  their  condition,  wasting  their  lives  in  aimless 
and  unending  internecine  war.  Though  we  read  of 
the  cacique  Vitachuco  who  opposed  De  Soto  with  ten 
thousand  chosen  warriors,  of  another  who  had  four 
thousand  always  ready  for  battle,*  and  other  such  in- 

1  Trovarono  terre  grandi  piene  di  genti  molto  ben  disposte, 
savie,  politiche,  e  ben'  ordinate.     Bartolome  de  las  Casas, 
Istoria  della  Distruttione  deli'  Indie  Occidentali,  p.  108.    Ve- 
netia,  1626. 

2  Barcia,  Ensay.  Cron.,  p.  71. 


112  FLORIDIAN   PENINSULA. 

stances  of  distinguished  power,  we  must  regard  them 
as  the  hyperbole  of  men  describing  an  unknown  and 
strange  -land,  supposed  to  abound  in  marvels  of  every 
description.  The  natural  laws  that  regulate  the  in- 
crease of  all  hunting  tribes,  the  analogy  of  other 
nations  of  equal  civilization,  the  nature  of  the  country, 
and  lastly,  the  adverse  testimony  of  these  same  writers, 
forbid  us  to  entertain  any  other  supposition.  Includ- 
ing men,  women,  and  children,  the  aboriginal  popula- 
tion of  the  whole  peninsula  probably  but  little  exceeded 
at  any  one  time  ten  thousand  souls.  At  the  period 
of  discovery  these  were  parcelled  out  into  villages,  a 
number  of  which,  uniting  together  for  self-protection, 
recognized  the  authority  of  one  chief.  How  many 
there  were  of  these  confederacies,  or  what  were  the 
precise  limits  of  each,  as  they  never  were  stable,  so  it 
is  impossible  to  lay  down  otherwise  than  in  very 
general  terms,  dependent  as  we  are  for  our  information 
on  the  superficial  notices  of  military  explorers,  who 
took  an  interest  in  anything  rather  than  the  political 
relations  of  the  nations  they  were  destroying. 

Commencing  at  the  south,  we  find  the  extremity  of 
the  peninsula  divided  into  two  independent  provinces, 
one  called  Tegesta  on  the  shores  of  the  Atlantic,  the 
other  and  most  important  on  the  west  or  Gulf  coast 
possessed  by  the  Oaloosa  tribe. 

The  derivation  of  the  name  of  the  latter  is  uncer- 
tain. The  French  not  distinguishing  the  final  letter 
wrote  it  Calos  and  Callos ;  the  Spaniards,  in  addition 
to  making  the  same  omission,  softened  the  first  vowel 
till  the  word  sounded  like  Carlos,  which  is  their  usual 
orthography.  This  suggested  to  Barcia  and  others 
that  the  country  was  so  called  from  the  name  of  its 
chief,  who,  hearing  from  his  Spanish  captives  the 


TRIBES  OF  THE  SIXTEENTH   CENTURY.      113 

grandeur  and  power  of  Charles  of  Spain  (Carlos  V), 
in  emulation  appropriated  to  himself  the  title.  Doubt- 
less, however,  it  is  a  native  word ;  and  so  Fontanedo, 
from  whom  we  derive  most  of  our  knowledge  of  the 
province,  and  who  was  acquainted  with  the  language, 
assures  us.  He  translates  it  "village  cruel"1  ah  .in- 
terpretation that  does  not  enlighten  us  much,  but 
which  may  refer  to  the  exercise  of  the  sovereign 
power.  As  a  proper  name,  it  may  be  the  Muskohge 
charloj  trout,  assumed,  according  to  a  common  custom, 
by  some  individual.  It  is  still  preserved  in  the  Semi- 
nole  appellation  of  the  Sanybal  river,  Carlosa-hatchie 
and  Caloosa-hatchie,  and  in  that  of  the  bay  of  Carlos, 
corrupted  by  the  English  to  Charlotte  Harbor,  both  on 
the  southwestern  coast  of  the  peninsula  near  north 
latitude  26°  40'. 

According  to  Fontanedo,  the  province  included  fifty 
villages  of  thirty  or  forty  inhabitants  each,  as  follows  : 
"Tampa,  Tomo,  Tuchi,  Sogo,  No  which  means  be- 
loved village,  Sinapa,  Sinaesta,  Metamapo,  Sacaspada, 
Calaobe,  Estame,  Yagua,  Guayu,  Guevu,  Muspa,  Cas- 
itoa,  Tatesta,  Coyovea,  Jutun,  Tequemapo,  Comachica, 
Quisiyove,  and  two  others  ;  on  Lake  Mayaimi,  Cutespa, 
Tavaguemme,  Tomsobe,  Enempa,  and  twenty  others ; 
in  the  Lucayan  Isles,  Guarunguve  and  Cuchiaga." 
Some  of  these  are  plainly  Spanish  names,  while  others 
undoubtedly  belong  to  the  native  tongue.  Of  these 
villages,  Tampa  has  given  its  name  to  the  inlet  for- 
merly called  the  bay  of  Espiritu  Santo3  and  to  the 

1  Memoire,  p.  13. 

•  *  At  what  time  or  by  whom  Tampa  Bay  was  first  so  called 
I  have  not  been  able  to  learn.  Its  usual  name  in  early  nar- 
ratives is  Baia  de  Espiritu  Santo,  which  was  given  by  De 
Soto ;  sometimes  from  separate  discoveries  it  was  called 
10* 


114  FLORIDIAN  PENiNSULA. 

small  town  at  its  head.  Muspa  was  the  name  of  a 
tribe  of  Indians  who  till  the  close  of  the  last  century 
inhabited  the  shores  and  islands  in  and  near  Boca 
Grande,  where  they  are  located  on  various  old  maps. 
Thence  they  were  driven  to  the  Keys  and  finally  anni- 
hilated by  the  irruptions  of  the  Seminoles  and  Span- 
iards.1 Guaragunve,  or  Guaragumbe,  described  by 
Fontanedo  as  the  largest  Indian  village  on  Los  Mar- 
tires,  and  which  means  "  the  village  of  tears/7  is  prob- 
ably a  modified  orthography  of  Matacumbe  and  iden- 
tical with  the  island  of  Old  Matacumbe,  remarkable 
for  the  quantity  of  lignum  vitse  there  found,2  and  one 
of  the  last  refuges  of  the  Muspa  Indians.  Lake 
Mayaiini,  around  which  so  many  villages  were  situated, 
is  identical  with  lake  Okee-chobee,  called  on  the  older 
maps  and  indeed  as  late  as  Tanner's  and  Carey's, 
Myaco  and  Macaco.  When  Aviles  ascended  the  St. 
Johns,  he  was  told  by  the  natives  that  it  took  its  ori- 
gin «  from  a  great  lake  called  Maimi  thirty  leagues  in 
extent/'  from  which  also  streams  flowed  westerly  to 
Carlos.3  In  sound  the  word  resembles  the  Seininole 
pai-okee  or  pai-hai~o-kee,  grassy  lake,  the  name  applied 
with  great  fitness  by  this  tribe  to  the  Everglades.4 

Bahia  Honda  (Deep  Bay,)  El  Lago  de  San  Bernardo,  Bale  de 
St.  Louis,  and  by  the  Indians  Culata  (Barcia,  Ensayo  Cron. 
p.  342,  Torquemada,  Monarquia  Indiana,  Lib.  I.,  Cap.  VI.) 
Herrera  in  his  map  of  the  Audiencia  de  la  Espaflola  marks  it 
"  B.  de  tampa,"  and  after  him  Gerard  a  Schaagen  in  theJNov. 
et  Accurat.  Americse  Descriptio. 

1  Williams,  Hist,  of  Florida,  pp.  36,  212.     Ellicott's  Jour- 
nal, p.  247.     Robert's  Hist,  of  Florida,  p.  17. 

2  Guaicum  officinale ;  the  el  palo  or  el  palo  santo  of  the 
Spaniards. 

s  Barcia,  En.  Cron.  Ano  1566. 

4  See  Prior's  Journal  in  Williams'  Florida,  p.  299.     The 
name  Miami  applied  to  a  tribe  in  Ohio,  and  still  retained  by 


TRIBES  OF  THE  SIXTEENTH   CENTURY.      115 

When  travelling  in  Florida  I  found  a  small  body  of 
water  near  Manatee  called  lake  Mayaco,  and  on  the 
eastern  shore  the  river  Miami  preserves  the  other  form 
of  the  name. 

The  chief  of  the  province  dwelt  in  a  village  twelve 
or  fourteen  leagues  from  the  southernmost  cape.1  The 
earliest  of  whom  we  have  any  account,  Sequene  by 
name,  ruled  about  the  period  of  the  discovery  of  the 
continent.  During  his  reign  Indians  came  from  Cuba 
and  Honduras,  seeking  the  fountain  of  life.  He  was 
succeeded  by  Carlos,  first  of  the  name,  who  in  turn 
was  followed  by  his  son  Carlos.  In  the  time  of  the 
latter,  Francesco  de  Reinoso,  under  the  command  of 
Pedro  Menendez  de  Aviles,  the  founder  of  St.  Augus- 
tine and  Adelantado  of  Florida,  established  a  colony 
in  this  territory,  which,  however,  owing  to  dissensions 
with  the  natives,  never  flourished,  and  finally  the  Ca- 
cique was  put  to  death  by  Keinoso  for  some  hostile 
demonstration.  His  son  was  taken  by  Aviles  to 
Havana  to  be  educated  and  there  baptized  Sebastian. 
Every  attempt  was  made  to  conciliate  him,  and  recon- 
cile him  to  the  Spanish  supremacy  but  all  in  vain,  as 
on  his  return  he  became  "  more  troublesome  and  bar- 
barous than  ever."  This  occurred  about  1565-1575.3 
Not  long  after  his  death  the  integrity  of  the  state  was 
destroyed,  and  splitting  up  into  lesser  tribes,  each  lived 

two  rivers  in  that  State,  properly  Omaumeg,  is  said  to  be  a 
pure  Algic  word,  meaning,  People  who  live  on  the  peninsula. 
(Amer.  Hist.  Mag.  Vol.  III.,  p.  90.)  We  are,  however,  not 
yet  prepared  to  accept  this  explanation  as  applicable  to  the 
•word  as  it  appears  in  Florida. 

1  Barcia,  Ensay.  Cron.,  p.  49,  and  compare  the  Hist.  Nota- 
ble, p.  134. 

2  For  these  facts  see  Fontanedo's  Memoire,  passim,  and 
Barcia,  ASos  1566,  1567. 


116  FLORIDIAN  PENINSULA. 

independent.  They  gradually  diminished  in  number 
under  the  repeated  attacks  of  the  Spaniards  on  the 
south  and  their  more  warlike  neighbors  on  the  north. 
Vast  numbers  were  carried  into  captivity  by  both,  and 
at  one  period  the  Keys  were  completely  depopulated. 
The  last  remnant  of  the  tribe  was  finally  cooped  up  on 
Cayo  Vaco  and  Cayo  Hueso  (Key  West),  where  they 
became  notorious  for  their  inhumanity  to  the  unfor- 
tunate mariners  wrecked  on  that  dangerous  reef. 
Ultimately,  at  the  cession  of  Florida,  to  England  in 
1763,  they  migrated  in  a  body  to  Cuba,  to  the  number 
of  eighty  families,  since  which  nothing  is  known  of 
their  fate.1 

Of  the  province  of  Tegesta,  situate  to  the  west  of 
the  Caloosas,  we  have  but  few  notices.  It  embraced 
a  string  of  villages,  the  inhabitants  of  which  were 
famed  as  expert  fishers,  (grandes  Pescadores,)  stretch- 
ing from  Cape  Canaveral  to  the  southern  extremity.2 
The  more  northern  portion  was  in  later  times  called 
Ais,  (Ays,  Is)  from  the  native  word  aisa,  deer,  and  by 
the  Spaniards,  who  had  a  post  here,  Santa  Lucea.3 
The  residence  of  the  chief  was  near  Cape  Canaveral, 
probably  on  Indian  river,  and  not  more  than  five  days 
journey  from  the  chief  town  of  the  Caloosas. 

At  the  period  of  the  French  settlements,  such 
amity  existed  between  these  neighbors,  that  the  ruler  of 
the  latter  sought  in  marriage  the  daughter  of  Oath- 
caqua,  chief  of  Tegesta,  a  maiden  of  rare  and  renowned 

1  Bernard  Romans,  pp.  291-2. 

2  Desde  los  Martires  al  Canaveral,  Herrera.  Dec.  IV.,  Lib., 
IV.,  cap.  VII. 

3  Barcia  (En.  Cron.  p.   118)   says  Ais  commences  twenty 
leagues  up  the  St.  Johns  river;  but  distances  given  by  the 
Spanish  historians  were  often  mere  guesses,  quite  untrust- 
worthy. 


TRIBES  OF  THE  SIXTEENTH  CENTURY.     117 

beauty.  Her  father,  well  aware  how  ticklish  is  the 
tenure  of  such  a  jewel,  willingly  granted  the  desire  of 
his  ally  and  friend.  Encompassing  her  about  with 
stalwart  warriors,  and  with  maidens  not  a  few  for  her 
companions,  he  started  to  conduct  her  to  her  future 
spouse.  But  alas !  for  the  anticipations  of  love ! 
Near  the  middle  of  his  route  was  a  lake  called  Ser- 
rope,  nigh  five  leagues  about,  encircling  an  island, 
whereon  dwelt  a  race  of  men  valorous  in  war  and 
opulent  from  a  traffic  in  dates,  fruits,  and  a  root  "  so 
excellent  well  fitted  for  bread,  that  you  could  not 
possibly  eat  better/'  which  formed  the  staple  food  of 
their  neighbors  for  fifteen  leagues  around.  These, 
fired  by  the  reports  of  her  beauty  and  the  charms  of 
the  attendant  maidens,  waylay  the  party,  rout  the 
warriors,  put  the  old  father  to  flight,  and  carry  off  in 
triumph  the  princess  and  her  fair  escort,  with  them  to 
share  the  joys  and  wonders  of  their  island  home. 

Such  is  the  romantic  story  told  Laudonniere  by  a 
Spaniard  long  captive  among  the  natives.1  Why  seek 
to  discredit  it?  May  not  Serrope  be  the  beautiful 
Lake  Ware  in  Marion  county,  which  flows  around  a 
fertile  central  isle  that  lies  like  an  emerald  on  its  placid 
bosom,  still  remembered  in  tradition  as  the  ancient 
residence  of  an  Indian  prince,8  and  where  relics  of  the 
red  man  still  exist  ?  The  dates,  les  dattes,  may  have 
been  the  fruit  of  the  Prunus  Chicasaw,  an  exotic  fruit 
known  to  have  been  cultivated  by  the  later  Indians, 
and  the  bread  a  preparation  of  the  coonta  root  or  the 
yam. 

North  of  the   province  of  Carlos,  throughout  the 

1  Basanier,  Hist.  Notable,  pp.  133-4. 

2  Vignoles,  Obs.  on  the  Floridas,  pp.  74-5. 


118  FLORIDIAN   PENINSULA. 

country  around  the  Hillsboro  river,  and  from  it  prob- 
ably to  the  Withlacooche,  and  easterly  to  the  Ockla- 
waha,  all  the  tribes  appear  to  have  been  under  the 
domination  of  one  ruler.  The  historians  of  De  Soto's 
expedition  called  the  one  in  power  at  that  period, 
Paracoxi,  Hurripacuxi,  and  Urribarracuxi,  names, 
however  different  in  orthography,  not  unlike  in  sound, 
and  which  are  doubtless  corruptions  of  one  and  the 
same  word,  otherwise  spelled  Paracussi,  and  which 
was  a  generic  appellation  of  the  chiefs  from  Maryland 
to  Florida.  The  town  where  they  found  him  residing, 
is  variously  stated  as  twenty,  twenty-five,  and  thirty 
leagues  from  the  coast,1  and  has  by  later  writers  been 
located  on  the  head-waters  of  the  Hillsboro  river.3  In 
later  times  the  cacique  dwelt  in  a  village  on  Old 
Tampa  Bay,  twenty  leagues  from  the  main,  called 
Tocobaga  or  Togabaja,3  (whence  the  province  derived 
its  name,)  and  was  reputed  to  be  the  most  potent  in 
Florida.  A  large  mound  still  seen  in  the  vicinity 
marks  the  spot. 

This  confederacy  waged  a  desultory  warfare  with 
their  southern  neighbors.  In  1567,  Aviles,  then  super- 
intending the  construction  of  a  fort  among  the  Caloosas, 
resolved  to  establish  a  peace  between  them,  and  for  this 
purpose  went  himself  to  Tocobaga.  He  there  located  a 
garrison,  but  the  span  of  its  existence  was  almost  as 
brief  as  that  of  the  peace  he  instituted.  Subsequently, 
when  the  attention  of  the  Spaniards  became  confined  to 
their  settlements  on  the  eastern  coast,  they  lost  sight 

1  Biedma,  Relation,  p.  53  ;  the  Port.  Gent,  in  Hackluyt,  V., 
p.  492  ;  La  Vega,  Lib.  II.,  cap.  x.,  p.  38. 
*  Irving's  Conquest  of  Fla.,  p.  84,  note. 
»  Barcia,  Ano  1567 ;  Fontanedo,  pp.  20,  35. 


TRIBES  OP  THE  SIXTEENTH  CENTURY.      119 

of  this  province,  and  thus  no  particulars  of  its  after 
history  are  preserved. 

The  powerful  chief  Vitachuco,  who  is  mentioned  in 
the  most  extravagant  terms  by  La  Vega  and  the  Gen- 
tleman of  Elvas,  seems,  in  connection  with  his  two 
brothers,  to  have  ruled  over  the  rolling  pine  lands  and 
broad  fertile  savannas  now  included  in  Marion  ai}d 
Alachua  counties.  Though  his  power  is  undoubtedly 
greatly  over-estimated  by  these  writers,  we  have  reason 
to  believe,  both  from  existing  remains  and  from  the 
capabilities  of  the  country,  that  this  was  the  most 
densely  populated  portion  of  the  peninsula,  and  that 
its  possessors  enjoyed  a  degree  of  civilization  superior 
to  that  of  the  majority  of  their  neighbors. 

The  chief  Potavou  mentioned  in  the  French  ac- 
counts, residing  about  twenty -five  leagues,  or  two 
days'  journey  from  the  territory  of  Utina,  and  at  war 
with  him,  appears  to  have  lived  about  the  same  spot, 
and  may  have  been  a  successor  or  subject  of  the  ca- 
cique of  this  province.1 

The  rich  hammocks  that  border  the  upper  St.  Johns 
and  the  flat  pine  woods  that  stretch  away  on  either 
side  of  this  river,  as  far  south  as  the  latitude  of  Cape 
Canaveral,3  were  at  the  time  of  the  first  settlement  of 
the  country  under  the  control  of  a  chief  called  by  the 
Spanish  Utina,  and  more  fully  by  the  French  Olata 
Ouae  Outina.  His  stationary  residence  was  on  the 
banks  of  the  river  near  the  northern  extremity  of 
Lake  George,  in  which  locality  certain  extensive  earth- 

1  Basanier,  Hist.  Notable,  pp.  190-1,  108-9,  140  sq. 

2  Jusqu  'a  Mayajuaca,  dans  la  contree  de  Ais,  vers  le  lieu 
plants  de  roseaux.     Fontanedo,  Memoire,  p.  35.     Canaveral 
is  a  Spanish  word  signifying  the  same  as  the  expression  I 
have  italicised. 


120  FLORIDIAN  PENINSULA. 

works  are  still  found,  probably  referable  to  this  period. 
So  wide  was  his  dominion  that  it  was  said  to  embrace 
more  than  forty  subordinate  chiefs,1  which,  however, 
are  to  be  understood  only  as  the  heads  of  so  many 
single  villages.  It  is  remarkable,  and  not  very  easy 
of  satisfactory  explanation,  that  among  nine  of  these 
mentioned  by  Laudonniere,2  two,  Acquera  and  Mo- 
quoso,  are  the  names  of  villages  among  the  first 
encountered  by  De  Soto  in  hi^  march  through  the 
peninsula,  and  said  by  all  the  historians  of  the  expe- 
dition to  be  subject  to  the  chief  Paracoxi. 

Soturiba  (Sotoriva,  Satouriona)  was  a  powerful  chief, 
claiming  the  territory  around  the  mouth  of  the  St. 
Johns,  and  northward  along  the  coast  nearly  as  far  as 
the  Savannah.  Thirty  sub-chiefs  acknowledged  his 
supremacy,  and  his  influence  extended  to  a  consider- 
able distance  inland.  He  showed  himself  an  impla- 
cable enemy  to  the  Spaniards,  and  in  1567,  assisted 
Dominique  de  Gourgues  to  destroy  their  settlements 
on  the  St.  Johns.  His  successor,  Casicola,  is  spoken 
of  by  Nicolas  Bourguignon  as  the  « lord  of  ten  thou- 
sand Indians,"  and  ruler  of  all  the  land  "  between  St. 
Augustine  and  St.  Helens." 

The  political  theories  on  which  these  confederacies 
were  based,  differed  singularly  in  some  particulars  from 
those  of  the  Indians  of  higher  latitudes.  Among  the 
latter  the  chief  usually  won  his  position  by  his  own 
valor  and  wisdom,  held  it  only  so  long  as  he  main- 
tained this  superiority,  and  dying,  could  appoint  no 
heir  to  his  pre-eminence.  His  counsel  was  sought 
only  in  an  emergency,  and  his  authority  coerced  his 
fellows  to  no  subjection.  All  this  was  reversed  among 

1  Basanier,  Hist.  Not.  p.  90.  2  Ibid. 


TEIBES  OF  THE  SIXTEENTH  CENTURY.      121 

the  Floridians.  The  children  of  the  first  wife  in- 
herited the  power  and  possessions  of  their  father,1  the 
eldest  getting  the  lion's  share ;  the  sub-chiefs  paid  to 
their  superior  stated  tributes  of  roots,  games,  skins, 
and  similar  articles;3  and  these  superiors  held  unques- 
tioned and  absolute  power  over  the  persons,  property, 
and  time  of  their  subjects.3  Among  the  Caloosas, 
indeed,  the  king  was  considered  of  divine  nature,  and 
believed  to  have  the  power  to  grant  or  withhold  sea- 
sons favorable  to  the  crops,  and  fortune  in  the  chase ; 
a  superstition  the  shrewd  chief  took  care  to  foster  by 
retiring  at  certain  periods  almost  unattended  to  a  soli- 
tary spot,  ostensibly  to  confer  with  the  gods  concerning 
the  welfare  of  the  nation.4  In  war  the  chief  led  the 
van  with  a  chosen  body  guard  for  his  protection,5  and 
in  peace  daily  sate  in  the  council  house,  there  both  to 
receive  the  homage  of  his  inferiors,  and  to  advise  with 
his  counsellors  on  points  of  national  interest.  The 
devotion  of  the  native  to  their  ruler,  willingly  losing 
their  lives  in  his  defence,  is  well  illustrated  in  the 
instance  of  Vitachuco,  killed  by  Be  Soto.  So  scrupu- 
lously was  the  line  of  demarcation  preserved  between 
them  and  their  subjects,  that  even  their  food  was  of 
different  materials.6 

1  Basanier,  Hist.  Not.  p.  8. 

2  Hackluyt,  Vol.  V.,  p.  492,  Fontanedo,  p.  15. 

3  Les  Floridiens  ne  sement,  ne  plantent,  ne  prennent  rien 
ni  a  la  chasse,  ni  a  la  peche,  qui  ne  soit  a  la  disposition  de 
leurs  chefs,  qui  distribuent,  et  donnent,  comme  il  leur  plait, 
etc.     Fra^ois  Coreal,  Voiages,  Tome  I.,  p.  44.     The  chiefs 
on  the  Bahamas  possessed  similar  absolute  power.  (Peter 
Martyr,  De  Novo  Orbe,  Dec.  VII.,  cap.  I.,  p.  467.) 

4  Basanier,  Hist.  Not.,  p.  132. 
6  Basanier,  pp.  9,  141. 

6  Fontanedo,  pp.  10,  11. 

11 


122  FLORIDIAN  PENINSULA. 


§  2. — CIVILIZATION. 

The  Floridians  were  physically  a  large,  well  propor- 
tioned race,  of  that  light  shade  of  brown  termed  by 
the  French  olivdtre  On  the  southern  coast  they  were 
of  a  darker  color,  caused  by  exposure  to  the  rays  of 
the  sun  while  fishing,  and  are  described  by  Herrera  as 
"  of  great  stature  and  fearful  to  look  upon,"  (de  grandes 
cuerpos  y  de  espantosa  vista).  What  rendered  their 
aspect  still  more  formidable  to  European  eyes  was  the 
habit  of  tattooing  their  skin,  practiced  for  the  double 
purpose  of  increasing  their  beauty,  and  recording  their 
warlike  exploits.  Though  this  is  a  perfectly  natural 
custom,  and  common  wherever  a  warm  climate  and 
public  usage  permits  the  uncivilized  man  to  reject 
clothing  a  portion  of  the  year,  instances  are  not  want- 
ing where  it  has  been  made  the  basis  of  would-be  pro- 
found ethnological  hypotheses. 

In  their  athletic  sports  they  differed  in  no  notable 
degree  from  other  tribes.  A  favorite  game  was  that 
of  ball.  In  playing  this  they  erected  a  pole  about  fifty 
feet  in  height  in  the  centre  of  the  public  square;  on 
the  summit  of  this  was  a  mark,  which  the  winning 
party  struck  with  the  ball.1  The  very  remarkable 
"pillar"  at  the  Creek  town  of  Atasse  on  the  Talla- 
poosa  river,  one  day's  journey  from  the  Coosa,  which 
puzzled  the  botanist  Bartram,3  and  which  a  living 
antiquarian  of  high  reputation  has  connected  with 
phallic  worship,3  was  probably  one  of  these  solitary 

1  Basanier,  Hist.  Not.  p.  7.  2  Travels,  p.  456. 

3  E.  G.  Squier,  Aborig.  Mon.  of  N.  Y.,  App.  pp.  135-7; 
Serpent  Symbol,  pp.  90,  94,  95. 


TRIBES  OF  THE  SIXTEENTH  CENTURY.      123 

trunks,  or  else  the  "red  painted  great  war-pole"  of 
the  southern  Indians,1  usually  about  the  same  height. 

In  some  parts  they  had  rude  musical  instruments, 
drums,  and  a  sort  of  flute  fashioned  from  the  wild 
cane,2  the  hoarse  screeching  of  which  served  to  testify 
their  joy  on  festive  occasions.  A  primitive  pipe  of 
like  construction,  the  earliest  attempt  at  melody,  but 
producing  anything  but  sounds  melodious,  was  com- 
mon among  the  later  Chicasaws3  and  the  Indians  of 
Central  America.* 

Their  agriculture  was  of  that  simple  character  com- 
mon to  most  North  American  tribes.  They  planted 
twice  in  the  year,  in  June  or  July  and  March,  crops  of 
maize,  beans,  and  other  vegetables,  working  the  ground 
with  such  indifferent  instruments  as  sticks  pointed,  or 
with  fish  bones  and  clam-shells  adjusted  to  them.5  Yet 
such  abundant  return  rewarded  this  slight  toil  that, 
says  De  Soto,6  the  largest  army  could  be  supported 
without  exhausting  the  resources  of  the  land.  In 
accordance  with  their  monarchical  government  the 
harvests  were  deposited  in  public  granaries,  whence  it 
was  dispensed  by  the  chief  to  every  family  propor- 
tionately to  the  number  of  its  members.  When  the 
stock  was  exhausted  before  the  succeeding  crop  was 
ripe,  which  was  invariably  the  case,  forsaking  their 
fixed  abodes,  they  betook  themselves  to  the  woods, 

1  Adair,  Hist.  N.  Am.  Inds.,  p.  205. 

2  They  came  to  meet  Narvaez  playing  on  such  flutes,  "  ta- 
Sendo  unas  Flautas  de  Cana,"  Cabeza  de  Vaca,  Naufragios, 
cap.  V. 

3  Bernard  Romans,  p.  62. 

4  Francisco  Ximenez,  Origen  de  los  Indies  de  Guatemala, 
p.  179. 

6  De  Morgues,  Brevis  Historia,  Tab.  XXI. 

6  Lettre  e"crite  par  1'Adelantade  Soto,  etc.,  p.  46. 


124     .  FLORIDIAN  PENINSULA. 

where  an  abundance  of  game,  quantities  of  fish  and 
oysters,  and  the  many  esculent  vegetables  indigenous 
in  that  latitude,  offered  them  an  easy  and  not  precarious 
subsistence. 

Their  dwellings  were  collected  into  a  village,  circu- 
lar in  form,  and  surrounded  with  posts  twice  the  height 
of  a  man,  set  firmly  in  the  ground,  with  interfolding 
entrance.  If  we  may  rely  on  the  sketches  of  De  Mor- 
gues, taken  from  memory,  the  houses  were  all  round 
and  the  floors  level  with  the  ground,  except  that  of  the 
chief,  which  occupied  the  centre  of  the  village,  was  in 
shape  an  oblong  parallelogram,  and  the  floor  some- 
what depressed  below  the  surface  level.1  In  other 
parts  the  house  for  the  ruler  and  his  immediate  atten- 
dants was  built  on  an  elevation  either  furnished  by 
nature  or  else  artificially  constructed.  Such  was  the 
"  hie  mount  made  with  hands,"  described  by  the  Por- 
tuguese Gentleman  at  the  spot  where  De  Soto  landed, 
and  which  is  supposed  by  some  to  be  the  one  still  seen 
in  the  village  of  Tampa.  Some  of  these  were  of 
sufficient  size  to  accommodate  twenty  dwellings,  with 
roads  leading  to  the  summits  on  one  side,  and  quite 
inaccessible  on  all  others. 

Most  of  the  houses  were  mere  'sheds  or  log  huts 
thatched  with  the  leaf  of  the  palmetto,  a  plant  subser- 
vient to  almost  as  many  purposes  as  the  bread-fruit 
tree  of  the  South  Sea  Islands.  Occasionally,  however, 
the  whole  of  a  village  was  comprised  in  a  single  enor- 
mous habitation,  circular  in  form,  from  fifty  to  one 
hundred  feet  in  diameter.  Into  its  central  area,  which 
was  sometimes  only  partially  roofed,  opened  numerous 

1  Brevis  Historia,  Tab.  XXX.,  and  compare  the  Histoire 
Memorable,  p.  261. 


TRIBES  OF  THE  SIXTEENTH  CENTUKY.      125 

cabins,  from  eight  to  twelve  feet  square,  arranged 
around  the  circumference,  each  the  abode  of  a  separate 
family.  Such  was  the  edifice  seen  by  Cabeza  de  Vaca 
"that  could  contain  more  than  three  hundred  persons'' 
(que  cabrian  mas  de  trecientas  personas)  ;*  such  tha.t 
found  by  De  Soto  in  the  town  of  Ochile  on  the  fron- 
tiers of  the  province  of  Vitachuco  ;  such  those  on  the 
north-eastern  coast  of  the  peninsula  described  by  Jona- 
than Dickinson.2 

The  agreeable  temperature  that  prevails  in  those 
latitudes  throughout  the  year  did  away  with  much  of 
the  need  of  clothing,  and  consequently  their  simple 
wardrobe  seems  to  have  included  nothing  beyond 
deerskins  dressed  and  colored  with  vegetable  dyes,  and 
a  light  garment  made  of  the  long  Spanish  moss 
(Tillandsia  usneoides),  the  gloomy  drapery  of  the 
cypress  swamps,  or  of  the  leaves  of  the  palmetto.  A 
century  and  a  half  later  Captain  Nairn  describes  them 
with  little  or  no  clothing,  "  all  painted/'  and  with  no 
arms  but  spears,  "  harpoos,"  pointed  with  fish  bones. 


§  3. — RELIGION. 

It  is  usual  to  consider  the  religion  and  mythology 
of  a  nation  of  weighty  import  in  determining  its 
origin ;  but  to  him,  who  regards  these  as  the  spon- 
taneous growth  of  the  human  mind,  brought  into  ex- 
istence by  the  powers  of  nature,  nourished  by  the 
mental  constitution  of  man,  and  shaped  by  external 

1  Naufragios,  cap.  III. 

2  God's  Protecting  Providence,  p.  62.     This  style  of  build- 
ing was  common  among  the  Caribs,  and  may  have  been  de- 
rired  from  them. 

11* 


126  FLORIDIAN  PENINSULA. 

circumstances,  all  of  which  are  "  everywhere  different 
yet  everywhere  the  same,"  general  similarities  of  creed 
and  of  rite  appear  but  deceptive  bases  for  ethnological 
theories.  The  same  great  natural  forces  are  eternally 
at  work,  above,  around  and  beneath  us,  producing 
similar  results  in  matter,  educing  like  conceptions  in 
mind.  He  who  attentively  compares  'any  two  mytho- 
logies whatever,  will  find  so  many  points  of  identity 
and  resemblance  that  he  will  readily  appreciate  the 
capital  error  of  those  who  deduce  original  unity  of 
race  from  natural  conformity  of  rite.  Such  is  the 
fallacy  of  those  who  would  derive  the  ancient  popula- 
tion of  the  American  continent  from  a  fragment  of  an 
insignificant  Semitic  tribe  in  Syria ;  and  of  the 
Catholic  missionaries,  who  imputed  variously  to  St. 
Thomas  and  to  Satan  the  many  religious  ceremonies 
and  legends,  closely  allied  to  those  of  their  own  faith, 
found  among  the  Aztecs  and  Guatemalans. 

In  investigations  of  this  nature,  therefore,  we  must 
critically  distinguish  between  the  local  and  the  univer- 
sal elements  of  religions.  Do  we  aim  by  analysis  to 
arrive  at  the  primal  theistic  notions  of  the  human 
mind  and  their  earliest  outward  expression?  The 
latter  alone  can  lead  us.  Or  is  it  our  object  to  use 
mythology  only  as  a  handmaid  to  history,  an  index  of 
migrations,  and  a  record  of  external  influence  ?  The 
impressions  of  local  circumstances  are  our  only  guides. 

The  tribes  of  the  New  World,  like  other  early  and 
uncivilized  nations,  chose  the  sun  as  the  object  of 
their  adoration  ;  either  holding  it  to  be  itself  the  Deity, 
as  did  most  of  the  indwellers  of  the  warm  zones,  or, 
as  the  natives  of  colder  climes,  only  the  most  august 
object  of  His  creation,  a  noble  emblem  of  Himself. 
Intimately  connected  with  both;  ever  recurring  in  some 


TRIBES  OF  THE  SIXTEENTH  CENTURY.      127 

one  of  its  Protean  forms,  is  the  worship  of  the  recip- 
rocal principle. 

The  Floridian  Indians  belonged  to  the  first  of  these 
classes.  They  worshipped  the  sun  and  moon,  and  in 
their  honor  held  such  simple  festivals  as  are  common 
in  the  earlier  stages  of  religious  development.  Among 
these  the  following  are  worthy  of  specification. 

After  a  successful  foray  they  elevated  the  scalps  of 
their  enemies  on  poles  decked  with  garlands,  and  for 
three  days  and  three  nights  danced  and  sang  around 
them.1  The  wreaths  here  probably  had  the  same 
symbolical  significance  as  those  which  adorned  the 
Athenian  Hermes,2  or  which  the  Maypures  of  the 
Orinoco  used  at  their  weddings,  or  those  with  which 
the  northern  tribes  ornamented  rough  blocks  of  stone. 

Their  principal  festival  was  at  the  first  corn-planting, 
about  the  beginning  of  March.  At  this  ceremony  a 
deer  was  sacrificed  to  the  sun,  and  its  body,  or  accord- 
ing to  others  its  skin  stuffed  with  fruits  and  grain, 
was  elevated  on  a  tall  pole  or  tree  stripped  of  its 
branches,  an  object  of  religious  veneration,  and  around 
which  were  danced  and  sung  the  sacred  choruses;3  a 
custom  also  found  by  Loskiel  among  the  Delawares,4 
and  which,  recognizing  the  deer  or  stag  as  a  solar  em- 
blem, surmounting  the  phallic  symbol,  the  upright 
stake,  has  its  parallel  in  Peruvian  heliolatry  and 
classical  mythology. 

The  feast  of  Toya,  though  seen  by  the  French  north 

1  Basanier,  Hist.  Not.,  pp.  8,  101. 

*  See  Mackay,  Progress  of  the  Intellect,  Vol.  II.,  p.  143, 
note  152,  and  authorities  there  quoted. 

3  Brevis  Historia,  Tab.  XXXV. ;  Baumgarten,  Geschichte 
von  Amerika,  B.  I.,  s.  87. 

4  Klemm,  Culturgeschichte  der  Menscheit,  B.  II  ,  s.  179. 


128  FLORIDIAN  PENINSULA. 

of  the  peninsula  and  perhaps  peculiar  to  the  tribes 
there  situate,  presents  some  remarkable  peculiarities. 
It  occurred  about  the  end  of  May,  probably  when  the 
green  corn  became  eatable.  Those  who  desired  to 
take  part  in  it,  having  apparelled  themselves  in  various 
attire,  assembled  on  the  appointed  day  in  the  council 
house.  Here  three  priests  took  charge  of  them,  and 
led  them  to  the  great  square,  which  they  danced 
around  thrice,  yelling  and  beating  drums.  Suddenly 
at  a  given  signal  from  the  priests  they  broke  away 
"like  unbridled  horses"  (commechevaux  debridez), 
plunging  into  the  thickest  forests.  Here  they  re- 
mained three  days  without  touching  food  or  drink,  en- 
gaged in  the  performance  of  mysterious  duties.  Mean- 
while the  women  of  the  tribe,  weeping  and  groaning, 
bewailed  them  as  if  dead,  tearing  their  hair  and 
cutting  themselves  and  their  daughters  with  sharp 
stones;  as  the  blood  flowed  from  these  frightful 
gashes,  they  caught  it  on  their  fingers,  and,  crying  out 
loudly  three  times  he  Toya,  threw  it  into  the  air.  At 
the  expiration  of  the  third  day  the  men  returned ;  all 
was  joy  again  ;  they  embraced  their  friends  as  though 
back  from  a  long  journey;  a  dance.was  held  on  the 
public  square;  and  all  did  famous  justice  to  a  boun- 
teous repast  spread  in  readiness.1  The  analogy  that 
these  rites  bear  to  the  Aiowata  and  similar  obser- 
vances of  the  ancients  is  very  striking,  and  doubtless 
they  had  a  like  significance-  The  singular  predomi- 
nance of  the  number  three,  which  we  shall  also  find 
repeated  in  other  connections,  cannot  escape  the  most 
cursory  reader.  Nor  is  this  a  rare  or  exceptional  in- 
stance where  it  occurs  in  American  religions;  it  is 

1  Basanier,  Hist.  Not.,  pp.  43  sqq. 


TKIBES  OF  THE   SIXTEENTH  CENTUEY.      129 

bound  up  in  the  most  sacred  myths  and  holiest  ob- 
servances all  over  the  continent.1  Obscure  though 
the  reason  may  be,  certain  it  is  that  the  numbers  three, 
four,  and  seven,  are  hallowed  by  their  intimate  con- 
nection with  the  most  occult  rites  and  profoundest 
mysteries  of  every  religion  of  the  globe,  and  not  less 
so  in  America  than  in  the  older  continent. 

In  the  worship  of  the  moon,  which  in  all  mythologies 
represents  the  female  principle,  their  rites  were  curious 
and  instructive.  Of  those  celebrated  at  full  moon  by 
the  tribes  on  the  eastern  coast,  Dickinson,  an  eye- 
witness, has  left  us  the  following  description  : — «  The 
moon  being  up,  an  Indian  who  performeth  their  cere- 
monies, stood  out,  looking  full  at  the  moon,  making  a 
hideous  noise  and  crying  out,  acting  like  a  mad-man 
for  the  space  of  half  an  hour,  all  the  Indians  being 
silent  till  he  had  done ;  after  which  they  all  made  a 
fearful  noise,  some  like  the  barking  of  a  dogg  or  wolf, 
and  other  strange  sounds ;  after  this  one  gets  a  logg 
and  setts  himself  down ;  holding  the  stick  or  logg 
upright  on  the  ground,  and  several  others  getting  about 
him,  made  a  hideous  noise,  singing  to  our  amazement." 
This  they  kept  up  till  midnight,  the  women  taking 
part.2 

On  the  day  of  new  moon  they  placed  upright  in  the 
ground  «  a  staff  almost  eight  foot  long  having  a  broad 
arrow  on  the  end  thereof,  and  thence  half-way  painted 
red  and  white,  like  unto  a  barber' s-pole  j  in  the  middle 
of  the  staff  is  fixed  a  piece  of  wood  like  unto  the  thigh, 
legg,  and  foot  of  a  man,  and  the  lower  part  thereof  is 

1  On  the   Trinity  in   aboriginal   American  religions,  see 
Count  Stolberg  in  the  Wiener  Yahrbiicher  der  Literatur,  B. 
XVI.,  s.  278. 

2  God's  Protecting  Providence,  p.  12. 


130  FLORIDIAN  PENINSULA. 

painted  black."  At  its  base  was  placed  a  basket  con- 
taining six  rattles;  each  taking  one  and  making  a 
violent  noise,  the  six  chief  men  of  the  village  including 
the  priest  danced  and  sang  around  the  pole  till  they 
were  fatigued,  when  others,  painted  in  various  devices, 
took  their  place ;  and  so  on  in  turn.  These  festivities 
continued  three  days,  the  day  being  devoted  to  rest  and 
feasting,  the  night  to  the  dance  and  fasting ;  during 
which  time  no  woman  must  look  upon  them.1  How  dis- 
tinctly we  recognize  in  this  the  worship  of  the  reciprocal 
principle ! — that  ever  novel  mystery  of  reproduction 
shadowed  forth  by  a  thousand  ingenious  emblems,  by 
a  myriad  strange  devices,  all  replete  with  a  deep  sig- 
nificance to  him  who  is  versed  in  the  subtleties  of 
symbolism.  Even  among  these  wretched  savages  we 
find  the  colors  black,  white,  and  red,  retain  that  solemn 
import  so  usual  in  oriental  mythi. 

The  representation  of  a  leg  used  in  this  observance 
must  not  be  considered  a  sign  of  idolatry,  for,  though 
the  assertion,  advanced,  by  both  Adair^and  Klemm,3 
that  no  idols  whatever  were  worshipped  by  the  hunting 
tribes,  is  unquestionably  erroneous  and  can  be  disproved 
by  numerous  examples,  in  the  peninsula  of  Florida 
they  seem  to  have  been  totally  unknown.  The  image 
of  a  bird,  made  of  wood,  seen  at  the  village  where  De 
Soto  first  landed,  cannot  be  regarded  as  such,  but  was 

1  God's  Protecting  Providence,  pp.  38,  39. 

2  Hist,  of  the  North  Am.  Indians,  p.  22.     He  embraces  all 
tribes  "  from  Hudson  Bay  to  the  Mississippi,"  and  adds  that 
they  had  no  lascivious  or  Priapean  images  or  rites,  in  which  he 
is  equally  at  fault. 

3  Man  hat  weder  bei  den  Sudamericanern   noch  bei  den 
Nordlichen  eigentliche  Gotzenbilder  oder  I  dole  be- 
merkt.      Culturgeschichte  der  Menschheit,  B.    II.,    s.    172. 
This  is  confined  of  course  to  the  «« Yagervolker." 


TRIBES  OF  THE  SIXTEENTH  CENTURY.      131 

a  symbol  common  among  several  of  the  southern  tribes, 
and  does  not  appear  to  have  had  any  special  religious 
meaning. 

Human  sacrifice,  so  rare  among  the  Algic  nations, 
was  not  unknown,  though  carried  to  by  no  means  such 
an  appalling  extent  as  among  the  native  accolents  of  the 
Mississippi.  The  chief  of  the  Caloosas  immolated  every 
year  one  person,  usually  a  Christian,  to  the  principle 
of  evil  (al  Demonio)1,  as  a  propitiary  offering;  hence 
on  one  old  map,  that  of  De  L'Isle,  they  are  marked 
"Les  Carlos  Antropophages."  Likewise  around  the 
St.  Johns  they  were  accustomed  to  sacrifice  the  first- 
born son,  killing  him  by  blows  on  the  head  ;3  but  it  is 
probable  this  only  obtained  to  a  limited  observance. 
In  all  other  cases  their  offerings  consisted  of  grains 
and  fruits. 

The  veneration  of  the  serpent,  which  forms  such  an 
integral  part  of  all  nature  religions,  and  relics  of  which 
are  retained  in  the  most  perfected,  is  reported  to  have 
prevailed  among  these  tribes.  When  a  soldier  of  De 
Gourgues  had  killed  one,  the  natives  cut  off  its  head 
and  carried  it  away  with  great  care  and  respect  (avec 
vn  grand  soin  et  diligence).3  The  same  superstitious 
fear  of  injuring  these  reptiles  was  retained  in  later  days 
by  the  Seminoles.4 

The  priests  constituted  an  important  class  in  the 
community.  Their  generic  appellation,  javasj  jauas, 

1  Barcia,  Ensayo  Cron.  Ano  1566,  p.  94;  the  Port.  Gent,  in 
Hackluyt,  Vol.  V.  p.  491,  mentions  this  as  existing  among 
the  tribes  near  Tampa  Bay. 

z  Moris  apud  illos  est  primogenitum  masculum  Regi  vic- 
timum  offerre,  etc.  Brevis  Historia,  Tab.  XXXIV. 

3  La  Reprinse  de  la  Floride,  p.  264. 

4  Wm.  Bartram,  Travels,  p.  263,  and  compare  Adair,  Hist, 
of  the  North  Am.  Inds.  pp.  238-9. 


132  FLORIDIAN  PENINSULA. 

jaruarsj  jaovas,  jaonas,  jaiias,  javiinas, — for  all  these 
and  more  orthographies  are  given — has  been  properly 
derived  by  Adair  from  the  meaningless  exclamation 
yah-wdhy  used  as  name,  interjection,  and  invocation  by 
the  southern  Indians.  It  is  not,  however,  an  etymon 
borrowed  from  the  Hebrew  as  he  and  Boudinot  argue, 
but  consists  of  two  slightly  varied  enunciations  of  the 
first  and  simplest  vowel  sound;  as  such,  it  constitutes 
the  natural  utterance  of  the  infant  in  its  earliest  wail, 
and,  as  the  easiest  cry  of  relief  of  the  frantic  devotee 
all  over  the  world,  is  the  principal  constituent  of  the 
proper  name  of  the  deity  in  many  languages.  Like 
the  medas  of  the  Algonquins  and  the  medicine  men  of 
other  tribes,  they  united  in  themselves  the  priest,  the 
physician,  and  the  sorcerer.  In  sickness  they  were 
always  ready  with  their  bag  of  herbs  and  simples,  and 
so  much  above  contempt  was  their  skill  in  the  healing 
art  that  not  unfrequently  they  worked  cures  of  a 
certain  troublesome  disease  sadly  prevalent  among  the 
Indians  and  said  by  some  to  have  originated  from  them. 
Magicians  were  they  of  such  admirable  subtlety  as  to 
restore  what  was  lost,  command  the  unwilling  rain 
from  heaven  in  time  of  drought,  and  foretell  the 
position  of  an  enemy  or  the  result  of  a  battle.  As 
priests,  they  led  and  ordered  festivals,  took  part  in 
grave  deliberations,  and  did  their  therapeutic  art  fail 
to  cure,  were  ready  with  spiritual  power  to  console,  in 
the  emergencies  of  pain  and  death. 

Their  sepulchral  rites  were  various.  Along  the 
St.  Johns,  when  a  chief  died  they  interred  the  corpse 
with  appropriate  honors,  raised  a  mound  two  or  three 
feet  high  above  the  grave,  surrounded  it  with  arrows 
fixed  in  the  ground,  and  on  its  summit  deposited  the 


TRIBES  OF  THE   SIXTEENTH   CENTURY.      183 

conch,  le  Tianap,  from  which  he  was  accustomed  to 
drink.  The  tribe  fasted  and  mourned  three  days  and 
three  nights,  and  for  six  moons  women  were  employed 
to  bewail  his  death,  lamenting  loudly  thrice  each  day 
at  sunrise,  at  mid-day,  and  at  sunset.1  All  his  posses- 
sions were  placed  in  his  dwelling,  and  the  whole 
burnt ;  a  custom  arising  from  a  superstitious  fear  of 
misfortune  consequent  on  using  the  chattels  of  the 
dead,  a  sentiment  natural  to  the  unphilosophic  mind. 
It  might  not  be  extravagant  to  suppose  that  the  shell 
had  the  same  significance  as  the  urn  so  frequent  in  the 
tombs  of  Egypt  and  the  sepulchres  of  Magna  Grsecia, 
"  an  emblem  of  the  hope  that  should  cheer  the  dwell- 
ings of  the  dead."3  The  burial  of  the  priests  was 
like  that  of  the  chiefs,  except  that  the  spot  chosen  was 
in  their  own  houses,  and  the  whole  burnt  over  them, 
resembling  in  this  a  practice  universal  among  the 
Caribs,  and  reappearing  among  the  Natchez,  Chero- 
kees  and  Arkansas,  (Taencas). 

Among  the  Caloosas  and  probably  various  other 
tribes,  the  corpses  were  placed  in  the  open  air, 
apparently  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  the  bones 
when  the  flesh  had  sufficiently  decomposed,  which, 
like  the  more  northern  tribes,  they  interred  in  common 
sepulchres,  heaping  dirt  over  them  so  as  to  form 
mounds.  It  was  as  a  guard  to  watch  over  these 
exposed  bodies,  and  to  prevent  their  desecration  by 
wild  beasts,  that  Juan  Ortiz,  the  Spaniard  of  Seville, 
liberated  by  De  Soto,  had  been  employed  while  a 
prisoner  among  the  nations  of  the  Gulf  Coast. 

1  Brevis  Historia,  Tab.  XL.  Basanier,  Hist.  Not.,  pp.  10, 11. 
2Mackay,  Progress  of  the  Intellect,  Vol.  II.,  p.  129. 

•    12 


134      '  FLORIDIAN   PENINSULA. 


§  4. — LANGUAGE. 

A  philological  examination  of  the  Floridian  tribes, 
which  would  throw  so  much  light  on  their  origin, 
affiliation,  and  many  side-questions  of  general  interest, 
must  for  the  present  remain  unattempted,  save  in  a 
very  inadequate  manner.  Not  but  that  there  exists 
material,  ample  and  well-arranged  material,  but  it  is 
not  yet  within  reach.  I  have  already  spoken  of  the 
works  of  the  Father  Pareja,  the  learned  and  laborious 
Franciscan,  and  of  the  good  service  he  did  the  mis- 
sionaries by  his  works  on  the  Timuquana  tongue.  Not 
a  single  copy  of  any  of  these  exists  in  the  United 
States,  and  till  a  republication  puts  them  within  reach 
of  the  linguist,  little  can  be  done  towards  clearing  up 
the  doubt  that  now  hangs  over  the  philology  of  this 
portion  of  our  country.  What  few  extracts  are  given 
by  Hervas,  hardly  warrant  a  guess  as  to  their  classi- 
fication. 

The  name  Timuquana,  otherwise  spelled  Timuaca, 
Timagoa,  and  Timuqua,  in  which  we  recognize  the 
Thimogona  of  the  French  colonists,  was  applied  to  the 
tongue  prevalent  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  St. 
Augustine  and  toward  the  mouth  of  the  St.  Johns.  It 
was  also  held  in  estimation  as  a  noble  and  general  lan- 
guage, a  sort  of  lingua  franca y  throughout  the  penin- 
sula. Pareja  remarks,  "  Those  Indians  that  differ 
most  in  words  and  are  roughest  in  their  enunciation 
(mas  toscos),  namely  those  of  Tucururu1  and  of  Santa 

1  Tucururu  or  Tacatacuru  was  on  the  Atlantic  coast  south 
of  St.  Augustine,  between  it  and  Santa  Lucea.  (Barcia,  En. 
Cron.,  p.  121.) 


TRIBES  OF  THE   SIXTEENTH   CENTURY.      135 

Lucea  de  Acuera,  in  order  to  be  understood  by  the 
natives  of  the  southern  coast,  who  speak  another 
tongue,  use  the  dialect  of  Moscama,  which  is  the  most 
polished  of  all  (la  mas  politica),  and  that  of  Timu- 
quana,  as  I  myself  have  proved,  for  they  understood 
me  when  I  preached  to  them."1 

This  language  is  remarkable  for  its  singularly 
numerous  changes  in  the  common  names  of  individuals, 
dependent  on  mutual  relationship  and  the  varying  cir- 
cumstances of  life,  which,  though  not  the  only  instance 
of  the  kind  in  American  tongues,  is  here  extraordi- 
narily developed,  and  in  the  opinion  of  Adelung  seems 
to  hint  at  some  previous,  more  cultivated  condition  (in 
gewissen  Hinsicht  einen  cultivirteren  Zustand  des 
Volks  anzeigen  mochte).3  For  example,  iti,  father, 
was  used  only  during  his  life ;  if  he  left  descendants 
he  was  spoken  of  as  siki,  but  if  he  died  without  issue, 
as  naribica-pasano  :  the  father  called  his  son  chirico- 
viro,  other  males  kie,  and  all  females  ulena.  Such 
variations  in  dialect,  or  rather  quite  different  dialects 
in  the  same  family,  extraordinary  as  it  may  seem  to  the 
civilized  man,  were  not  very  uncommon  among  the  war- 
like, erratic  hordes  of  America.  They  are  attributable 
to  various  causes.  The  esoteric  language  of  the  priests 
of  Peru  and  Virginia  might  have  been  either  meaning- 
less incantations,  as  those  that  of  yore  resounded 
around  the  Pythian  and  Delphic  shrines,  or  the  disjecta 
membra  of  some  ancient  tongue,  like  the  Dionysiac 
songs  of  Athens.  When  as  among  the  Abipones  of 
Paraguay,  the  Natchez  of  Louisiana,  and  the  Incas  of 

1  Hervas,  Catalogo  de  las  Lenguas  de  las  naciones  conocidas, 
Tom.  I.  p.  387.  Madrid,  1800-1805. 

*  Mithridates,  oder  Allgemeine  Sprachenkunde,  B.  III.,  s. 

285. 


136  FLORIDIAN  PENINSULA. 

Peru,  the  noble  or  dominant  race  has  its  own  peculiar 
tongue,  we  must  impute  it  to  foreign  invasion,  and  a 
subsequent  rigorous  definition  of  the  line  of  cast  and 
prevention  of  amalgamation.  Another  consequence 
of  war  occurs  when  the  women  and  children  of  the 
defeated  race  are  alone  spared,  especially  should  the 
males  be  much  absent  and  separated  from  the  females ; 
then  each  sex  has  its  peculiar  language,  which  may  be 
preserved  for  generations ;  such  was  found  to  be  the 
case  on  some  of  the  Caribbee  islands  and  on  the  coast 
of  Guiana.  Also  certa  insuperstitious  observances,  the 
avoidance  of  evil  omens,  and  the  mere  will  of  indi- 
viduals, not  seldom  worked  changes  of  this  nature. 
In  such  cases  these  dialects  stand  as  waymarks  in  the 
course  of  time,  referring  us  back  to  some  period  of 
unity,  of  strife,  or  of  migration,  whence  they  proceeded, 
and  as  such,  require  the  greatest  caution  to  be  exer- 
cised in  deducing  from  them  any  general  ethnographi- 
cal inferences. 

What  we  are  to  judge  in  the  present  instance  is  not 
yet  easy  to  say.  Hervas  does  not  hesitate  to  assert 
that  abundant  proof  exists  to  ally  this  with  the  Guara- 
nay  (Carib)  stock.  Besides  a  likeness  in  some  ety- 
mons, he  takes  pains  to  lay  before  the  reader  certain 
similar  rites  of  intermarriage,  quotes  Barcia  to  show 
that  Carib  colonies  actually  did  land  on  Florida,  and 
adds  an  ideal  sketch  of  the  Antiyua  configuration  del 
yolfo  Mexicano  y  del  mar  Atlantico,  thereon  proving 
how  readily  in  ancient  ages,  under  altered  geological 
conditions,  such  a  migration  could  have  been  effected. 

Without  altogether  differing  from  the  learned  abbe* 
in  his  position,  for  it  savors  strongly  of  truth,  it 
might  be  well,  with  what  material  we  have  at  hand, 
to  see  whether  other  analogies  could  be  discovered. 


TRIBES  OF  THE  SIXTEEISTTH  CENTURY.      137 

The  pronominal  adjectives  and  the  first  three  numerals 
are  as  follows ; — 

na  mine  mile  our 

ye  thine  yaye  your 

mima  bis  lama  their 

minecotamano  one 

naiuchanima  two 

nakapumima  three 

Now,  bearing  in  mind  that  the  pronouns  of  the  first 
and  second  persons  and  the  numerals  are  primitive 
words,  and  that  in  American  philology  it  is  a  rule 
almost  without  exception  that  personal  pronouns  and 
pronominal  adjectives  are  identical  in  their  consonants,1 
we  have  five  primitive  words  before  us.  On  compar- 
ing them  with  other  aboriginal  tongues,  the  n  of  the 
first  person  singular  is  found  common  to  the  Algon- 
quin Lenape  family,  but  in  all  other  points  they  are 
such  contrasts  that  this  must  pass  for  an  accidental 
similarity.  A  resemblance  may  be  detected  between 
the  Uchee  nowah,  two,  nokah,  three,  and  naiucha- 
mima,  tta/sa-pumima.  Taken  together,  iti-na,  my 
father,  sounds  not  unlike  the  Cherokee  etawta,  and 
Adelung  notices  the  slight  difference  there  is  between 
niha,  eldest  brother,  and  the  Illinois  nika,  my  brother. 
But  these  are  trifling  compared  to  the  affinities  to  the 
Carib,  and  I  should  not  be  astonished  if  a  comparison 
of  Pareja  with  Gilii  and  D'Orbigny  placed  beyond 
doubt  its  relationship  to  this  family  of  languages. 
Should  this  brief  notice  give  rise  to  such  an  investiga- 
tion, my  object  in  inserting  it  will  have  been  ac- 
complished. 

The   French    voyagers  occasionally  noted  down   a 

1  Gallatin,  Trans.  Am.  Antiq.  Soc.,  Vol.  IT.,  p.  178. 
12* 


138  FLORIDIAN  PENINSULA. 

word  or  two  of  the  tongues  they  encountered,  and  in- 
deed Laudonniere  assures  us  that  he  could  understand 
the  greater  part  of  what  they  said.  Such  were  tapagu 
tapola,  little  baskets  of  corn,  sieroa  pira,  red  metal, 
antipola  bonnasson,  a  term  of  welcome  meaning,  bro- 
ther, friend,  or  something  of  that  sort  (qui  vaut  autant 
a  dire  comme  frere,  amy,  ou  chose  semblable).1  Al- 
bert Gallatin3  subjected  these  to  a  critical  examination, 
but  deciphered  none  except  the  last.  This  he  derives 
from  the  Choktah  itapola,  allies,  literally,  they  help 
each  other,  while  "  in  Muskohgee,  inhisse,  is,  his 
friends,  and  ponliisse,  our  friends,"  which  seems  a  sat- 
isfactory solution.  It  was  used  as  a  friendly  greeting 
both  at  the  mouth  of  the  St.  Johns  and  thirty  leagues 
north  of  that  river ;  but  this  does  not  necessarily 
prove  the  natives  of  those  localities  belonged  to  the 
Chahta  family,  as  an  expression  of  this  sort  would 
naturally  gain  wide  prevalence  among  very  diverse 
tribes. 

Fontanedo  has    also  preserved   some  words  of  the 
more  southern  languages,  but  none  of  much  importance. 

1  Basanier,  Hist,  Not.  pp.  67,  69,  72 ;  Coppie  (Tune  Lettre 
venant  de  la  Floride,  p.  244. 

2  Trans.  Am.  Antiq.  Soc.,  Vol.  II.,  p.  106. 


LATER  TRIBES.  139 

CHAPTER  IV. 

LATER     TRIBES. 

§  1.  Yemassees. — Uchees. — Apalachicolos. — Migrations  north- 
ward. 
\  2.  Seminoles. 

§  1. — YEMASSEES  AND  OTHER  TRIBES. 

ABOUT  the  close  of  the  seventeenth  century,  when 
the  tribes  who  originally  possessed  the  peninsula  had 
become  dismembered  and  reduced  by  prolonged  con- 
flicts with  the  whites  and  between  themselves,  various 
bands  from  the  more  northern  regions,  driven  from 
their  ancestral  homes  partly  by  the  English  and  partly 
by  a  spirit  of  restlessness,  sought  to  fix  their  habita- 
tions in  various  parts  of  Florida. 

The  earliest  of  these  were  the  Savannahs  or  Ye- 
massees (Yammassees,  Jamasees,  Eamuses,)  a  branch 
of  the  Muskogeh  or  Creek  nation,  who  originally  in- 
habited the  shores  of  the  Savannah  river  and  the  low 
country  of  Carolina.  Here  they  generally  maintained 
friendly  relations  with  the  Spanish,  who  at  one  period 
established  missions  among  them,  until  the  arrival  of 
the  English.  These  purchased  their  land,  won  their 
friendship,  and  embittered  them  against  their  former 
friends.  As  the  colony  extended,  they  gradually 
migrated  southward,  obtaining  a  home  by  wresting 
from  their  red  and  white  possessors  the  islands  and 
mainland  along  the  coast  of  Georgia  and  Florida. 
The  most  disastrous  of  these  inroads  was  in  1686, 


140        FLORIDIAN  PENINSULA. 

when  they  drove  the  Spanish  colonists  from  all  the 
islands  north  ef  the  St.  Johns,  and  laid  waste  the 
missions  and  plantations  that  had  been  commenced 
upon  them.  Subsequently,  spreading  over  the  savan- 
nas of  Alachua  and  the  fertile  plains  of  Middle  Florida, 
they  conjoined  with  the  fragments  of  older  nations  to 
form  separate  tribes,  as  the  Chias,  Canaake,  Tomocos 
or  Atimucas,  and  others.  Of  these  the  last-mentioned 
were  the  most  important.  They  dwelt  between  the  St. 
Johns  and  the  Suwannee,  and  possessed  the  towns  of 
Jurlo  Noca,  Alachua,  Nuvoalla.  and  others.  At  the 
devastation  of  their  settlements  by  the  English  and 
Creeks  in  1704,  1705  and  1706,  they  removed  to  the 
shores  of  Musquito  Lagoon,  sixty-five  miles  south  of 
St.  Augustine,  where  they  had  a  village,  long  known 
as  the  Pueblo  de  Atimucas. 

A  portion  of  the  tribe  remained  in  Carolina,  dwell- 
ing on  Port  Royal  Island,  whence  they  made  frequent 
attacks  on  the  Christian  Indians  of  Florida,  carrying 
them  into  captivity,  and  selling  them  to  the  English. 
In  April,  1715,  however,  instigated  as  was  supposed  by 
the  Spanish,  they  made  a  sudden  attack  on  the  neigh- 
boring settlements,  but  were  repulsed  and  driven  from 
the  country.  They  hastened  to  St.  Augustine,  «  where 
they  were  received  with  bells  ringing  and  guns  firing/71 
and  given  a  spot  of  ground  within  a  mile  of  the  city. 
Here  they  resided  till  the  attack  of  Colonel  Palmer  in 
1727,  who  burnt  their  village  and  destroyed  most  of 
its  inhabitants.  Some,  however,  escaped,  and  to  the 
number  of  twenty  men,  lived  in  St.  Augustine  about 
the  middle  of  the  century.  Finally,  this  last  miserable 

1  Hewitt,  Hist,  of  S.  Car.,  Vol.  I.,  p.  222.  He  gives  1714 
as  the  date  of  this  occurrence.  But  see  Carroll's  Hist.  Colls. 
of  S.  Car.,  Vol.  II.,  p.  353. 


LATER  TRIBES.  141 

remnant  was  enslaved  by  the  Seminoles,  and  sunk  in 
the  Ocklawaha  branch  of  that  tribe.1 

Originating  from  near  the  same  spot  as  the  Yemas- 
sees  were  the  Uchees.  When  first  encountered  by  the 
whites,  they  possessed  the  country  on  the  Carolina  side 
of  the  Savannah  river  for  more  than  one  hundred  and 
fifty  miles,  commencing  sixty  miles  from  its  mouth, 
and,  consequently,  just  west  of  the  Yemassees.  Closely 
associated  with  them  here,  were  the  Palachoclas  or 
Apalachicolos.  About  the  year  1716,  nearly  all  the 
latter,  together  with  a  portion  of  the  Uchees,  removed 
to  the  south  under  the  guidance  of  Cherokee  Leechee, 
their  chief,  and  located  on  the  banks  of  the  stream 
called  by  the  English  the  Flint  river,  but  which  subse- 
quently received  the  name  of  Apalachicola. 

The  rest  of  the  Uchees  clung  tenaciously  to  their 
ancestral  seats  in  spite  of  the  threats  and  persuasion 
of  the  English,  till  after  the  middle  of  the  century, 
when  a  second  and  complete  migration  took  place. 
Instead  of  joining  their  kinsmen,  however,  they  kept 
more  to  the  east,  occupying  sites  first  on  the  head- 
waters of  the  Altamaha,  then  on  the  Santilla,  (St. 
Tillis,)  St.  Marys,  and  St.  Johns,  where  we  hear  of 
them  as  early  as  1786.  At  the  cession  to  the  United 
States,  (1821,)  they  had  a  village  ten  miles  south  of 
Yolusia,  near  Spring  Gardens.  At  this  period,  though 
intermarrying  with  their  neighbors,  they  still  main- 
tained their  identity,  and  when,  at  the  close  of  the 
Seminole  war  in  1845,  two  hundred  and  fifty  Indians 

1  On  the  Yemassees  consult  Hewitt,  ubi  supra ;  Barcia,  Em 
Cron.  Aflo  1686 ;  the  tracts  in  Carroll's  Hist.  Colls,  of  S. 
Car.,  Vol.  II.,  pp.  106,  246,  353,  355;  Roberts,  Hist,  of 
Florida,  p.  15 ;  Notices  of  E.  Florida,  by  a  recent  traveller, 
p.  57. 


142  FLORIDIAN  PENINSULA. 

embarked  at  Tampa  for  New  Orleans  and  the  West,  it 
is  said  a  number  of  them  belonged  to  this  tribe,  and 
probably  constituted  the  last  of  the  race.1 

Both  on  the  Apalachicola  and  Savannah  rivers  this 
tribe  was  remarkable  for  its  unusually  agricultural 
and  civilized  habits,  though  of  a  tricky  and  dishonest 
character.  Bartram9  gives  the  following  description  of 
their  town  of  Chata  on  the  Chatauchee : — "  It  is  the 
most  compact  and  best  situated  Indian  town  I  ever 
saw;  the  habitations  are  large  and  neatly  built  j  the 
walls  of  the  houses  are  constructed  of  a  wooden  frame, 
then  lathed  and  plastered  inside  and  out,  with  a  red- 
ish,  well-tempered  clay  or  mortar,  which  gives  them 
the  appearance  of  red  brick  walls,  and  these  houses  are 
neatly  covered  or  roofed  with  cypress  bark  or  shingles 
of  that  tree."  This,  together  with  the  Savanuca  town 
on  the  Tallapoosa  or  Oakfuske  river,  comprised  the 
whole  of  the  tribe  at  that  time  resident  in  this  vicinity. 

Their  language  was  called  the  Savanuca  tongue,  from 
the  town  of  that  name.  It  was  peculiar  to  themselves 
and  radically  different  from  the  Creek  tongue  or  Lingo, 
by  which  they  were  surrounded  ;  "  It  seems,"  says  Bar- 
tram,  "  to  be  a  more  northern  tongue ;"  by  which  he 
probably  means  it  sounded  harsher  to  the  ear.  It 
was  said  to  be  a  dialect  of  the  Shawanese,  but  a  com- 
parison of  the  vocabularies  indicates  no  connection,  and 


1  On  the  migrations  of  this  tribe  consult  the  Colls,  of  the 
Georgia  Hist.  Soc.  Vol.  I.,  pp.  145-6 ;  Vol.  II.,  pp.  61,  71  ; 
John  Filson;  The  Disc.,  Settlement,  and  Pres.  State  of  Ken- 
tucke",  App.  3,  p.  84;  Gallatin  in  Trans.  Am.  Antiq.  Soc.,  Vol. 
II.,  pp.  84,  95 ;  Notices  of  E.  Fla.,  by  a  recent  traveller,  p. 
59 ;    Narrative  of  Oceola  Nikkanoche,  p.  70  et  seq. ;  Moll's 
Map  of  the  Northern  Parts  of  America,  and  Sprague's  Hist, 
of  the  Florida  War. 

2  Travels,  pp.  388-9,  and  see  p.  486. 


LATER  TRIBES.  143 

it  appears  more  probable  that  it  stands  quite  alone  in 
the  philology  of  that  part  of  the  continent. 

While  these  movements  were  taking  place  from  the 
north  toward  the  south,  there  were  also  others  in  a 
contrary  direction.  One  of  the  principal  of  these 
occurred  while  Francisco  de  la  Guerra  was  Governor- 
General  of  Florida,  (1684-1690,)  in  consequence  of 
an  attempt  made  by  Don  Juan  Marquez  to  remove  the 
natives  to  the  West  India  islands  and  enslave  them. 
We  have  no  certain  knowledge  how  extensive  it  was, 
though  it  seems  to  have  left  quite  a  number  of  mis- 
sions deserted.1 

What  has  excited  more  general  attention  is  the 
tradition  of  the  Shawnees,  (Shawanees,  Sawannees, 
Shawanos,)  that  they  originally  came  from  the  Su- 
wannee  river  in  Florida,  whose  name  has  been  said  to 
be  "  a  corruption  of  Shawanese,"  and  that  they  were 
driven  thence  by  the  Cherokees.2  That  such  was  the 
origin  of  the  name  is  quite  false,  as  its  present  appel- 
lation is  merely  a  corruption  of  the  Spanish  San  Juan, 
the  river  having  been  called  the  Little  San  Juan,  in 
contradistinction  to  the  St.  Johns,  (el  rio  de  San  Juan,) 
on  the  eastern  coast.8  Nor  did  they  ever  live  in  this 
region,  but  were  scions  of  the  Savannah  stem  of  the 
Creeks,  accolents  of  the  river  of  that  name,  and  conse- 
quently were  kinsmen  of  the  Yemassees. 

1  Barcia,  Ensayo  Cronologico,  Ano  1686,  p.  287. 

2  Jedediah  Morse,  Rep.  on  Ind.  Affairs,  App.  p.  93,  Archgeol- 
Amer.,  Vol.  L,  p.  273,  and  others. 

3  Other  forms  of  the  same  are  Little  St.  Johns,  Little  Sa- 
vanna, Seguano,  Suannee,  Swannee.     It  was  also  called  the 
Carolinian  river. 


144:  FLORIDIAN  PENINSULA. 


§  2. — THE  SEMINOLES. 

The  Creek  nation,  so  called  says  Adair  from  the 
number  of  streams  that  intersected  the  lowlands  they 
inhabited,  more  properly  Muskogeh,  (corrupted  into 
Muscows,)  sometimes  Western  Indians,  as  they  were 
supposed  to  have  come  later  than  the  Uchees,1  and  on 
the  early  maps  Cowetas  (Couitias,)  and  Allibamons 
from  their  chief  towns,  was  the  last  of  those  waves  of 
migration  which  poured  across  the  Mississippi  for 
several  centuries  prior  to  Columbus.  Their  hunting 
grounds  at  one  period  embraced  a  vast  extent  of 
country  reaching  from  the  Atlantic  coast  almost  to  the 
Mississippi.  After  the  settlement  of  the  English  among 
them,  they  diminished  very  rapidly  from  various 
causes,  principally  wars  and  the  ravages  of  the  small- 
pox, till  about  1740  the  whole  number  of  their  war- 
riors did  not  exceed  fifteen  hundred.  The  majority  of 
these  belonged  to  that  branch  of  the  nation,  called 
from  its  more  southern  position  the  Lower  Creeks,  of 
mongrel  origin,  made  up  of  the  fragments  of  numerous 
reduced  and  broken  tribes,  dwelling  north  and  north- 
west of  the  Floridian  peninsula.2 

When  G-ovenor  Moore  of  South  Carolina  made  his 
attack  on  St.  Augustine,  he  included  in  his  complement 
a  considerable  band  of  this  nation.  After  he  had  been 


1  H.  R.  Schoolcraft,  Notes  on  the  Iroquois,  p.  161.    Adair, 
however,  says   they  recorded    themselves   to  be  terror  filii. 
(Hist.  N.  Am.  Inds.,  p.  257,  but  compare  p.  195.) 

2  For  the  individual  nations  composing  the  confederacy  see 
Romans,  Hist,  of  Fla.,  p.  90;  Roberts,  Hist,  of  Fla.,  p.  13, 
and  Adair,  p.  257. 


LATER  TRIBES.  145 

repulsed  they  kept  possession  of  all  the  land  north  of 
the  St.  Johns,  and,  uniting  with  certain  negroes  from 
the  English  and  Spanish  colonies,  formed  the  nucleus 
of  the  nation,  subsequently  called  Ishti  semoti,  wild 
men,1  corrupted  into  Seminolies  and  Seminoles,  who 
subsequently  possessed  themselves  of  the  whole  penin- 
sula and  still  remain  there.  Others  were  introduced 
by  the  English  in  their  subsequent  invasions,  by 
Governor  Moore,  by  Col.  Palmer,  and  by  General 
Oglethorpe.  As  early  as  1732,  they  had  founded  the 
town  of  Coweta  on  the  Flint  river,  and  laid  claim  to 
all  the  country  from  there  to  St.  Augustine.2  They 
soon  began  to  make  incursions  independent  of  the 
whites,  as  that  led  by  Toonahowi  in  1741,  as  that  which 
in  1750,  under  the  guidance  of  Secoflee,  forsook  the 
banks  of  the  Apalachicola,  and  settled  the  fertile 
savannas  of  Alachua,  and  as  the  band  that  in,  1808 
followed  Micco  Hadjo  to  the  vicinity  of  Tallahassie. 
They  divided  themselves  into  seven  independent  bands, 
the  Latchivue  or  Latchione,  inhabiting  the  level  banks 
of  the  St.  Johns,  and  the  sand  hills  to  the  west,  near 
the  ancient  fort  Poppa,  (San  Francisco  de  Pappa,) 
opposite  Picolati,  the  Oklevuaha,  or  Oklewaha  on  ihe 
river  that  bears  their  name,  the  Chokechatti,  the 
Pyaklekaha,  the  Talehouyana  or  Fatehennyaha,  the 
Topkelake,  and  a  seventh,  whose  name  I  cannot  find. 
According  to  a  writer  in  1791,3  they  lived  in  a  state 

1  Giddings  (Exiles   of  Florida,  p.  3)   gives   the   incorrect 
translation  "runaways,"  and  adds,    "it  was  originally  used 
in  reference  to  the  Exiles  long  before  the  Seminole  Indians 
separated  from  the  Creeks.'1     The  Upper  Creeks  called  them 
Aulochawan.     (American  State  Papers,  Vol.V.,   p.  813.) 

2  Establishment  of  the  Colony  of  Georgia,  pp.   10,  12,  in 
Peter  Force's  Historical  Tracts,  Vol.  I. 

3  Major  C.  Swan,  in  Schoolcraft's  Hist,  of  the  Indian  Tribes. 
Vol.  V.,  pp.  260,  272. 

13 


14:6  FLORIDIAN  PENINSULA. 

of  frightful  barbarity  and  indigence,  and  were  "  poor 
and  miserable  beyond  description."  When  the  mother 
was  burdened  with  too  many  children,  she  hesitated 
not  to  strangle  the  new-born  infant,  without  remorse 
for  her  cruelty  or  odium  among  her  companions.  This 
is  the  only  instance  that  I  have  ever  met  in  the 
history  of  the  American  Indians  where  infanticide  was 
in  vogue  for  these  reasons,  and  it  gives  us  a  fearfully 
low  idea  of  the  social  and  moral  condition  of  those 
induced  by  indolence  to  resort  to  it.  Yet  other  and 
by  far  the  majority  of  writers  give  us  a  very  different 
opinion,  assure  us  that  they  built  comfortable  houses 
of  logs,  made  a  good,  well-baked  article  of  pottery, 
raised  plenteous  crops  of  corn,  beans,  pumpkins,  sweet 
potatoes,  tobacco,  swamp  and  upland  rice,  peas,  melons 
and  squashes,  while  in  an  emergency  the  potatoe-like 
roots,of  the  china  brier  or  red  coonta,  the  tap  root  of 
the  white  coonta,1  the  not  unpleasant  cabbage  of  the 
palma  royal  and  palmetto,  and  the  abundant  game  and 
fish,  would  keep  at  a  distance  all  real  want.2 

As  may  readily  be  supposed  from  their  vagrant  and 
unsettled  mode  of  life,  their  religious  ideas  were  very 
simple.  Their  notion  of  a  God  was  vague  and  ill- 
defined;  they  celebrated  certain  festivals  at  corn 
planting  and  harvest;  they  had  a  superstition  regard- 
ing the  transmigration  of  souls  and  for  this  purpose 
held  the  infant  over  the  face  of  the  dying  mother  ;3 

1  Smilaz,  China,  and  Zamia  pumila. 

2  On  the  civilization  of  the  Seminoles,  consult  Vfra.  Bar- 
tram,  Travels,  pp.  192-3,  304,  the  American  Jour,  of  Science, 
Vol.  IX.,  pp.  133,  135,  and  XXXV.,  pp.  58-9;  Notices  of  E. 
Fla  ,by  a  recent  Traveller,  and  the  works  on  the  Florida  War. 

8  Narrative  of  Oceola  Nikkanoche,  p.  75.  The  author  sup- 
posed this  was  to  receive  the  injunctions  of  the  dying  mother, 
but  more  probably  it  sprang  from  that  belief  in  a  metasotna- 


LATER  TRIBES.  147 

and  from  their  great  reluctance  to  divulge  their  real 
names,  it  is  probable  they  believed  in  a  personal 
guardian  spirit,  through  fear  of  offending  whom  a  like 
hesitation  prevailed  among  other  Indian  tribes,  as  well 
as  among  the  ancient  Romans,  and,  strange  to  say,  is 
in  force  to  this  day  among  the  lower  class  of  Italians.1 
They  usually  interred  the  dead,  and  carefully  concealed 
the  grave  for  fear  it  should  be  plundered  and  dese- 
crated by  enemies,  though  at  other  times,  as  after  a 
battle,  they  piled  the  slain  indiscriminately  together, 
and  heaped  over  them  a  mound  of  earth.  One  in- 
stance is  recorded2  where  a  female  slave  of  a  deceased 
princess  was  decapitated  on  her  tomb  to  be  her  com- 
panion and  servant  on  the  journey  to  the  land  of  the 
dead. 

A  comparison  of  the  Seminole  with  the  Muskogeh 
vocabulary  affords  a  most  instructive  lesson  to  the 
philologist.  With  such  rapidity  did  the  former  un- 
dergo a  vital  change  that  as  early  as  1791  "  it  was 
hardly  understood  by  the  Upper  Creeks/'3  The  later 
changes  are  still  more  marked  and  can  be  readily 

tosis  which  prevailed,  and  produced  analogous  customs  in 
other  tribes.  See  La  Hontan,  Voiages,  Tome  I ,  p.  232 ; 
"  Brebeuf,  Relation  de  la  Nouv.  France  pour  1'an  1636,  ch. 
IX."  Pedro  de  Cieza,  Travs.  in  Peru,  ch.  XXXII.,  p.  86  in 
Steven's  Collection. 

1  Notices  of  East  Fla.,  by  a  recent  traveller,  p.  79.     For 
the  extent  and  meaning   of  this   singular   superstition,  see 
Schoolcraft,  Oneota,  pp.  331,  456;   Algic  Researches,  Vol.  I., 
p.  149,  note;  Hist,  of  the  Indian  Tribes,   Vol.  III.,  p.  66; 
Gregg,  Commerce  of  the  Prairies,  Vol.  II.,  p.  271  ;  Bradford, 
American  Antiquities,  p.  415;   Mackay,  Progress  of  the  In- 
tellect, Vol.  I.,  p.  146,  and  note  15. 

2  Narrative  of  Oceola  Nikkanoche,  p.  77. 

3  C.  Swan  in  Schoolcraft's  His.  Ind.  Tribes,  Vol.  V.,  p.  200. 


148  FLORIDIAN  PENINSULA. 

studied  as  we  have  quite  a  number  of  vocabularies 
preserved  by  different  writers. 

Ever  since  the  first  settlement  of  these  Indians  in 
Florida  they  have  been  engaged  in  a  strife  with  the 
whites,1  sometimes  desultory  and  partial,  but  usually 
bitter,  general,  and  barbarous  beyond  precedent  in  the 
bloody  annals  of  border  warfare.  In  the  unanimous 
judgment  of  unprejudiced  writers,  the  whites  have 
ever  been  in  the  wrong,  have  ever  enraged  the  Indians 
by  wanton  and  unprovoked  outrages,  but  they  have 
likewise  ever  been  the  superior  and  victorious  party. 
The  particulars  of  these  contests  have  formed  the 
subjects  of  separate  histories  by  able  writers,  and  con- 
sequently do  not  form  a  part  of  the  present  work. 

Without  attempting  a  more  minute  specification,  it 
will  be  sufficient  to  point  out  the  swift  and  steady 
decrease  of  this  and  associated  tribes  by  a  tabular  ar- 
rangement of  such  censual  statistics  as  appear  most 
worthy  of  trust. 

1  By  the  whites  I  refer  to  the  descendants  of  the  English  of 
the  northern  states.  While  under  the  Spanish  government, 
up  to  the  first  Seminole  war,  their  nation  was  said  to  be  "  nu- 
merous,, proud  and  wealthy."  (Vignqles,  Obs.  on  the  Flori- 
das,  App.,  p.  215.)  This  was  owing  to  the  Spanish  laws  which 
gave  them  equal  privileges  with  white  and  free  colored  per- 
sons, and  drew  the  important  distinction  that  they  could  hold 
land  individually,  but  not  nationally.  How  different  these 
beneficent  regulations  from  the  decree  of  the  Florida  Legisla- 
ture in  1827,  that  any  male  Indian  found  out  of  the  reserva- 
tion "  shall  receive  not  exceeding  thirty-nine  stripes  on  his 
bare  back,  and  his  gun  be  taken  away  from  him."  (Laws 
relating  to  Inds.  and  Ind.  Affairs,  p.  247,  Washington,  1832,) 
and  similar  enactments. 


LATER  TRIBES.  149 


CENSUAL  STATISTICS  OF   THE   LOWER  CREEKS  AND 
SEMINOLES. 

Dale.  Number.     Authority.  Remarks. 

1716  1000  Roberts1  L.  Creek  war.  on  Flint  river. 

1734  1350  Anon.2  Lower  Creek  warriors. 

1740  1000  Anon.3                          "         "             " 

1774  2000  Wm.  Bartram*  Lower  Creeks. 

1776  3500  Romans5  Gun-men  of  U.  and  L.  Creeks. 

1820  1200  Morse6  "  Pure  blooded  Seminoles." 

1821  6000  J.  H.  Bell'  All  tribes  in  the  State. 

1822  3891  Gad  Humphreys8  Seminoles  E.  of  Apalachicola 

1823  4883  Pub.  Docs.9     '  All  tribes  in  the  State. 
1836  1660  Sprague10  Serviceable  warriors. 
1843  42  Sprague11  Pure  Seminole  warriors. 
1846  70  Sprague12                     "           "             " 
1850  70  Sprague1'                     "           "             " 
1856  150  Pub.  papers  Mixed  warriors. 

1858         30     Pub.  papers  "  " 

Probably  within  the  present  year  (1859)  the  last  of 
this  nation,  the  only  free  representatives  of  those  many 
tribes  east  of  the  Mississippi  that  two  centuries  since 
held  undisturbed  sway,  will  bid  an  eternal  farewell  to 
their  ancient  abodes,  and  leave  them  to  the  quiet  pos- 
session of  that  race  that  seems  destined  to  supplant 
them. 

1  Roberts,  First  Disc,  of  Fla  ,  p.  90. 

*  Collections  of  Georgia  Hist.  Soc.  Vol.  II.,  p.  318. 
3  Ibid  ,  p.  73. 

*  Travels,  p.  211. 

5  Nat.  History,  p.  91. 

6  Report  on  Indian  Affairs,  p.  33. 
?  Cohen,  Notices  of  Florida,  p.  48. 

8  Sprague,  Hist,  of  the  Fla.  War,  p.  19. 

9  American  State  Papers,  Vol.  VI.,  p.  439. 
«>  Hist,  of  the  Fla.  War,  p.  97. 

i«  Ibid.,  p.  409. 
12  Ibid  ,  p  512. 
"Ibid. 

13* 


150  FLORIDIAN   PENINSULA. 

CHAPTER  V. 

THE    SPANISH    MISSIONS. 

Early  Attempts. — Efforts  of  Aviles. — Later  Missions. — Ex- 
tent during  the  most  flourishing  period. — Decay. 

IT  was  ever  the  characteristic  of  the  Spanish  con- 
queror that  first  in  his  thoughts  and  aims  was  the 
extension  of  the  religion  in  which  he  was  born  and 
bred.  The  complete  history  of  the  Romish  Church  in 
America  would  embrace  the  whole  conquest  and  settle- 
ment of  those  portions  held  originally  by  France  and 
Spain.  The  earliest  and  most  energetic  explorers  of 
the  New  and  much  of  the  Old  World  have  been  the 
pious  priests  and  lay  brethren  of  this  religion.  While 
others  sought  gold  they  labored  for  souls,  and  in  all 
the  perils  and  sufferings  of  long  journeys  and  tedious 
voyages  cheerfully  bore  a  part,  well  rewarded  by  one 
convert  or  a  single  baptism.  With  the  same  zeal  that 
distinguished  them  everywhere  else  did  they  labor  in 
the  unfruitful  vineyard  of  Florida,  and  as  the  story  of 
their  endeavors  is  inseparably  bound  up  with  the  con- 
dition of  the  natives  and  progress  of  the  Spanish 
arms,  it  is  with  peculiar  fitness  that  the  noble  toils  of 
these  self-denying  men  become  the  theme  of  our  in- 
vestigation. 

The  earliest  explorers,  De  Leon,  Narvaez,  and  De 
Soto,  took  pains  to  have  with  them  devout  priests  as 
well  as  bold  lancers,  and  remembered,  which  cannot  be 
said  of  all  their  cotemporaries,  that  though  the  natives 


THE  SPANISH  MISSIONS.  151 

might  possess  gold,  they  were  not  devoid  of  souls. 
The  latter  included  in  his  complement  no  less  than 
twelve  priests,  eight  lay  brethren,  and  four  clergymen 
of  inferior  rank ;  but  their  endeavors  seem  to  have 
achieved  only  a  very  paltry  and  transient  success. 

The  first  wholly  missionary  voyage  to  the  coast  of 
Florida,  and  indeed  to  any  part  of  America  north  of 
Mexico,  was  undertaken  by  Luis  Cancel  de  Balbastro, 
a  Dominican  friar,  who  in  1547  petitioned  Charles  I. 
of  Spain  to  fit  out  an  armament  for  converting  the 
heathen  of  that  country.  A  gracious  ear  was  lent  to 
his  proposal,  and  two  years  afterwards,  in  the  spring 
of  1549,  a  vessel  set  sail  from  the  port  of  Vera  Cruz 
in  Mexico,  commanded  by  the  skillful  pilot  Juan  de 
Arana,  and  bearing  to  their  pious  duty  Luis  Cancel 
with  three  other  equally  zealous  brethren,  Juan  Gar- 
cia, Diego  de  Tolosa,  and  Gregorio  Beteta.  Their  story 
is  brief  and  sad.  Going  by  way  of  Havana  they  first 
struck  the  western  coast  of  the  peninsula  about  28° 
north  latitude  the  day  after  Ascension  day.  After  two 
months  wasted  in  fruitless  efforts  to  conciliate  the 
natives  in  various  parts,  when  all  but  Beteta  had  fallen 
martyrs  to  their  devotion  to  the  cause  of  Christianity, 
the  vessel  put  back  from  her  bootless  voyage,  and 
returned  to  Vera  Cruz.1 

Some  years  afterwards  (1559),  when  Don  Tristan  de 
Luna  y  Arellano  founded  the  colony  of  Santa  Maria 

1  Relation  de  la  Floride  apporte*e  par  Frere  Gregorio  de 
Beteta,  in  Tqrnaux's  Recueil.  They  did  not  touch  the  coast 
beyond  the  Bay  of  Apalache  nor  much  south  of  Tampa  Bay. 
Both  Barcia  (En.  Cron.  Ano  1549)  and  Herrera  (Dec.  VIII., 
Lib.  V.,  cap.  XIV.,  XV.)  say  they  entered  the  latter,  but  this 
cannot  be,  as  the  supposed  description  is  entirely  inapplicable. 
For  other  particulars  see  Eden's  translation  of  Peter  Martyr, 
(fol.  319,  Londini,  1555.) 


152  FLOBIDIAN  PENINSULA. 

de  Felipina  near  where  Pensacola  was  subsequently 
built,  he  was  accompanied  by  a  provincial  bishop  and 
a  considerable  corps  of  priests,  but  as  his  attempt  was 
unsuccessful  and  his  colony  soon  disbanded,  they  could 
have  made  no  impression  on  the  natives.1 

It  was  not  till  the  establishment  of  a  permanent 
garrison  at  St.  Augustine  by  the  Adelantado  Pedro 
Menendez  de  Aviles,  that  the  Catholic  religion  took 
firm  root  in  Floridian  soil.  In  the  terms  of  his  out- 
fit is  enumerated  the  enrollment  of  four  Jesuit  priests 
and  twelve  lay  brethren.  Everywhere  he  displayed 
the  utmost  energy  in  the  cause  of  religion  ;  wherever 
he  placed  a  garrison,  there  was  also  a  spiritual  father 
stationed.  In  1567  he  sent  the  two  learned  and  zeal- 
ous missionaries  Rogel  and  Villareal  to  the  Caloosas, 
among  whom  a  settlement  had  already  been  formed 
under  Francesco  de  Reinoso.  At  their  suggestion  a 
seminary  for  the  more  complete  instruction  of  youthful 
converts  was  established  at  Havana,  to  which  among 
others  the  son  of  the  head  chief  was  sent,  with  what 
success  we  have  previously  seen. 

The  following  year  ten  other  missionaries  arrived, 
one  of  whom,  Jean  Babtista  Segura,  had  been  ap- 
pointed Vice  Provincial.  The  majority  of  these  worked 
with  small  profit  in  the  southern  provinces,  but  Padre 
Antonio  Sedeno  settled  in  the  island  of  Guale,2  and  is 
to  be  remembered  as  the  first  who  drew  up  a  grammar 
and  catechism  of  any  aboriginal  tongue  north  of 

1  The  authority  for  this,  as  well  as  most  of  the  facts  in  this 
chapter  where  other  references  are  not  given,  is  Barcia's  En- 
sayo  Cronologico. 

2  Sometimes  called  Santa  Maria  or  St.  Marys ;  now  Amelia 
Island,  so  named,  from  the  beauty  of  its  shores,  by  Gov.  Ogle- 
thorpe   in    1736.     (Francis   Moore,  Voyage    to    Georgia,    iri 
Ga.  Hist.  Soc.'s  Colls.  Vol.  I.,  p.  124  ) 


THE  SPANISH   MISSIONS.  153 

Mexico ;  but  he  reaped  a  sparse  harvest  from  his  toil ; 
for  though  five  others  labored  with  him,  we  hear  of 
only  seven  conversions,  and  four  of  these  infants  in  arti- 
culo  mortis.  Yet  it  is  also  stated  that  as  early  as  1566 
the  Adelantado  himself  had  brought  about  the  conver- 
sion of  these  Indians  en  masse.  A  drought  of  eight 
months  had  reduced  them  to  the  verge  of  starvation. 
By  his  advice  a  large  cross  was  erected  and  public 
prayer  held.  A  tremendous  storm  shortly  set  in, 
proving  abundantly  to  the  savages  the  truth  of  his 
teachings.  But  they  seem  to  have  turned  afresh  to 
their  wallowing  in  the  mire. 

In  1569,  the  Padre  Rogel  gave  up  in  despair  the 
still  more  intractable  Caloosas;  and  among  the  more 
cultivated  nations  surrounding  San  Felipe,  north  of 
the  Savannah  river,  sought  a  happier  field  for  his 
efforts.  In  six  months  he  had  learned  the  language 
and  at  first  flattered  himself  much  on  their  aptness  for 
religious  instruction.  But  in  the  fall,  when  the  acorns 
ripened,  all  his  converts  hastened  to  decamp,  leaving 
the  good  father  alone  in  his  church.  And  though  he 
followed  them  untiringly  into  woods  and  swamps,  yet 
"  with  incredible  wickedness  they  would  learn  nothing, 
nor  listen  to  his  exhortations,  but  rather  ridiculed  them, 
jeopardizing  daily  more  and  more  their  salvation." 
With  infinite  pains  he  collected  some  few  into  a  vil- 
lage, gave  them  many  gifts,  and  furnished  them  food 
and  mattocks;  but  again  they  most  ungratefully  de- 
serted him  "  with  no  other  motive  than  their  natural 
laziness  and  fickleness."  Finding  his  best  efforts 
thrown  away  on  such  stiff-necked  heathen,  with  a 
heavy  heart  he  tore  down  his  house  and  church,  and, 
shaking  the  dust  off  his  feet,  quitted  the  country 
entirely. 


154  FLORIDIAN  PENINSULA. 

At  this  period  the  Spanish  settlements  consisted  of 
three  colonies :  St.  Augustine,  originally  built  south  of 
where  it  now  stands  on  St.  Nicholas  creek,  and  changed 
in  1566,  San  Matteo  at  the  mouth  of  the  river  of  the 
same  name,  now  the  St.  Johns,1  and  fifty  leagues  north 
of  this  San  Felipe  in  the  province  of  Orista  or  Santa 
Helena,  now  South  Carolina.  In  addition  to  these 
there  were  five  block-houses,  (casas  fuertes),  two,  To- 
cobaga  and  Carlos,  on  the  western  coast,  one  at  its 
southern  extremity,  Tegesta,  one  in  the  province  of 
Aisor  Santa  Lucea,  and  a  fifth,  which  Juan  Pardohad 
founded  one  hundred  and  fifty  leagues  inland  at  the 
foot  of  certain  lofty  mountains,  where  a  cacique  Coava 
ruled  the  large  province  Axacan.2  There  seem  also 
to  have  been  several  minor  settlements  on  the  St. 
Johns. 

Such  was  the  flourishing  condition  of  the  country 
when  that  "  terrible  heretic  and  runaway  galley  slave," 
as  the  Spanish  chronicler  calls  him,  Dominique  de 
Gourgues  of  Mont  Marsain,  aided  by  Pierre  le  Breu, 
who  had  escaped  the  massacre  of  the  French  in  1565, 
and  the  potent  chief  Soturiba,  demolished  the  most 
important  posts  (1567).  Writers  have  over-rated  the 
injury  this  foray  did  the  colony.  In  reality  it  served 
but  to  stimulate  the  indomitable  energy  of  Aviles. 
Though  he  himself  was  at  the  court  of  Spain  and 
obliged  to  remain  there,  with  the  greatest  promptness 

he  dispatched  Estevan  de  las  Alas  with  two  hundred 

% 

1  Called  by  the  natives  Ylacco  or  Walaka,  the  river  of  many 
lakes  ;  by  the  French  Riviere  Mai,  as  Ribaut  entered  it  on  the 
first  of  that  month  ;  by  the  Spaniards  Rio  Matheo,  Rio  Pico- 
lato,  on  some  charts  by  mistake  Rio  San  Augustin,  Rio  Ma- 
tanca  and  Rio  Caouita,  and  not  till  much  later  Rio  San  Juan, 
which  the  English  changed  to  St.  Johns,  and  St.  Whan. 

2  Barcia,  p.  123,  and  of.,  p.  128. 


THE  SPANISH   MISSIONS.  155 

and  seventy-three  men,  who  rebuilt  and  equipped  San 
Matheo,  and  with  one  hundred  and  fifty  of  his  force 
quartered  himself  in  San  Felipe. 

With  him  had  gone  out  quite  a  number  of  priests. 
The  majority  of  these  set  out  for  the  province  of  Axacan, 
under  the  guidance  of  the  brother  of  its  chief,  who  had 
been  taken  by  Aviles  to  Spain,  and  there  baptized, 
in  honor  of  the  viceroy  of  New  Spain,  Don  Luis  de 
Velasco.  His  conversion,  however,  was  only  simula- 
tion, as  no  sooner  did  he  see  the  company  entirely 
remote  from  assistance,  than,  with  the  aid  of  some 
other  natives,  he  butchered  them  all,  except  one  boy, 
who  escaped  and  returned  to  San  Felipe.  Three  years 
after  (1569),  the  Adelantado  made  an  attempt  to  re- 
venge this  murder,  but  the  perpetrators  escaped  him. 

Notwithstanding  these  drawbacks,  at  the  time  cf  the 
death  of  Aviles,  a  firm  and  extensive  foundation  had 
been  laid  for  the  Christian  religion,  though  it  was  by 
no  means  professed,  as  has  been  asserted,  "by  all  the 
tribes  from  Santa  Helena,  on  the  north,  to  Boca  Rat- 
tones,  on  the  south,  and  from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Gulf 
of  Mexico."1 

After  his  death,  under  the  rule  of  his  nephew,  Pedro 
Menendez  Marquez,  a  bold  soldier  but  a  poor  politician, 
the  colony  seems  to  have  dwindled  to  a  very  insignifi- 
cant point.  Spanish  historians  speak  vaguely  of  many 
nations  reduced  by  him,  but  such  accounts  cannot  be 
trusted.  At  the  time  of  the  destruction  of  St.  Augus- 
tine by  Drake,  in  1586,  this  town  was  built  of  wood, 
and  garrisoned  by  one  hundred  and  fifty  men.a  And 

1  Williams,  Florida,  p.  175. 

2  Though  Drake  left  nothing  but  the  fort,  and  the  dwell- 
ings were  a  second  time  destroyed  by  Col.  Palmer,  in  1727, 
yet  Stoddard.  (Sketches  of  Louisiana,  p.  120)  says  houses 
were  standing  in  his  time  bearing  the  date  1571  ! 


156  FLORIDIAN  PENINSULA. 

if  we  may  believe  the  assertions  of  the  prisoners  he 
brought  to  England,  the  whole  number  of  souls,  both 
at  this  place  and  at  Santa  Helena,  did  not  exceed  two 
hundred.1  Only  six  priests  were  in  the  colony  ;  and  as 
to  the  disposition  of  the  Indians,  it  was  so  hostile  and 
dangerous,  that  for  some  time  subsequent  the  soldiers 
dared  never  leave  the  fort,  even  to  hunt  or  fish. 2  Yet 
it  was  just  about  this  time  (1584),  that  Williams,3  on 
the  authority  of  his  ancient  manuscript,  states  that 
"the  Spanish  authorities  were  acknowledged  as  far 
west  as  the  river  Mississippi  (Empalazada),  and  north 
one  hundred  and  forty  leagues  to  the  mountains  of 
Georgia  1" 

As  early  as  1566,  fourteen  women  had  been  intro- 
duced by  Sancho  de  Arminiega ;  but  we  read  of  no 
increase,  and  it  is  probable  that  for  a  long  series  of 
years  the  colony  was  mainly  supported  by  fresh 
arrivals. 

It  was  not  till  1592,  when,  in  pursuance  of  an  ordi- 
nance of  the  Council  of  the  Indies,  twelve  Franciscans 
were  deputed  to  the  territory,  that  the  missions  took  a 
new  start.  They  were  immediately  forwarded  to  various 
quarters  of  the  province,  and  for  a  while  seem  to  have 
been  quite  successful  in  their  labors.  It  is  said  that  in 
1594  there  were  "no  less  than  twenty  mission  houses." 
One  of  these  priests,  Pedro  de  Corpa,  superior  of  the 
mission  of  Tolemato  (Tolemaro)  near  the  mouth  of  the 
St.  Marys  river,  by  his  unsparing  and  harsh  rebukes, 
excited  the  anger  of  the  natives  to  such  a  degree  that; 

1  Hackluyt,  Vol.  III.,  p.  432.     Pedro  Morales  adds,  "The 
greatest  number  of  Spanyards  that  have  beene  iu  Florida 
these  sixe  yeeres,  was  300." 

2  Torquemada,  Monarquia  Indiana,  Lib.  XIX  ,  cap.  XX., 
p.  350. 

3  Nat.  and  Civ.  Hist,  of  Fla.,  p.  175. 


THE  SPANISH  MISSIONS.  157 

headed  by  the  chief  of  Guale,  they  rose  en  masse,  and 
murdered  him  at  the  foot  of  the  altar.  Nor  did  this 
glut  their  vengeance.  Bearing  his  dissevered  head 
upon  a  pole  as  a  trophy  and  a  standard,  they  crossed 
to  the  neighboring  island  of  Guale,  and  there  laid 
waste  the  missions  Topiqui,  Asao,  Ospo,  and  Assopo. 
The  governor  of  St.  Augustine  lost  no  time  in  has- 
tening to  the  aid  of  the  sufferers;  and,  though  the 
perpetrators  of  the  deeds  could  nowhere  be  found,  by 
the  destruction  of  their  store-houses  and  grain  fields, 
succeeded  by  a  long  drought,  "  which  God  visited  upon 
them  for  their  barbarity,"  such  a  dreadful  famine 
fell  upon  them  that  their  tribe  was  nearly  annihilated 
(1600). 

In  1602,  Juan  Altimirano,  bishop  of  Cuba,  visited 
this  portion  of  his  diocess,  and  was  much  disheartened 
by  the  hopeless  barbarity  of  the  natives.  So  much  so, 
indeed,  that  years  afterwards,  when  holding  discussion 
with  the  bishop  of  Guatemala  concerning  the  query, 
"Is  God  known  by  the  light  of  Nature?"  and  the 
latter  pressing  him  cogently  with  Cicero,  he  retorted, 
"  Ah,  but  Cicero  had  not  visited  Florida,  or  he  would 
never  have  spoken  thus." 

This  discouraging  anecdote  to  the  contrary,  the  very 
next  year,  in  the  general  assembly  that  met  at  Toledo. 
Florida,  in  conjunction  with  Havana  and  Bahama,  was 
constituted  a  Custodia  of  eleven  convents,  and  in  1612, 
they  were  elevated  into  an  independent  Provincia,  under 
the  name  of  Santa  Helena,  with  the  head  convent  at 
Havana,  and  Juan  Capillas  appointed  first  Provincial 
Bishop.1  An  addition  of  thirty -two  Franciscans,  partly 
under  Geronimo  de  Ore  in  1612,  and  partly  sent  out 

1  Torquemada,  Monarquia  Indiana,   Lib.  XIX.,  cap.  XX., 
p.  350;  Barcia,  Anos  16U3  and  1612. 
14 


158  FLORIDIAN  PENINSULA. 

by  Philip  III.,  the  year  after,  sped  the  work  of  con- 
version, and  for  a  long  time  subsequent,  we  find  vague 
mention  of  nations  baptized  and  churches  erected. 

About  the  middle  of  the  century,  (1649,)  the  priests 
had  increased  to  fifty,  and  the  •  episcopal  revenue 
amounted  to  four  hundred  dollars.  At  this  time 
St.  Augustine  numbered  "more  than  three  hundred 
inhabitants/'  So  great  had  been  the  success  of  the 
spiritual  fathers,  that  in  1655,  Diego  de  Rebolledo, 
then  Governor  and  Captain-General,  petitioned  the  king 
to  erect  the  colony  into  a  bishopric;  a  request  which, 
though  favorably  viewed,  was  lost  through  delay  and 
procrastination.  Similar  attempts,  which  were  simi- 
larly frustrated,  were  made  by  hissuccessors  Juan  Mar- 
quez  in  1682,  and  Juan  Ferro  in  1689. 

Notwithstanding  these  indications  of  a  lively  energy, 
a  very  different  story  is  told  by  the  traveller  of  Car- 
thagena,  Francois  Coreal,  who  visited  the  peninsula  in 
1669.  He  mentions  no  settlements  but  San  Augus- 
tine and  San  Matheo. — indeed,  expressly  states  that 
there  were  none,1 — and  even  these  were  in  a  sorry 
plight  enough,  (assez  degarnies.)  Either  he  must  have 
been  misinformed,  or  the  work  of  conversion  proceeded 
with  great  and  sudden  rapidity  after  his  visit,  as  less 
than  twenty  years  afterwards,  (1687,)  when  by  the 
attempts  of  Juan  Marquez  to  remove  the  natives  to  the 
West  India  Islands,  many  forsook  their  homes  for 
distant  regions,  they  left  a  number  of  missions  de- 
serted, as  San  Felipe,  San  Simon,  Sapola,  Obaldiqui, 
and  others.  This  marked  increase  was  largely  owing 
to  a  subsidy  of  twenty-four  Franciscans  under  Alonzo 

1  L'interieur,  non  plus  que  les  parties  de  1'ouest  et  du 
Nord  n'est  pas  en  notre  pouvoir.  Voiages  aux  Indes  Occi- 
dentales,  T.  I.,  p.  27. 


THE   SPANISH   MISSIONS.  159 

de  Moral  in  1676,  and  the  energetic  action  of  the 
Bishop  of  Cuba,  who  spared  no  pains  to  facilitate  the 
advent  of  missionaries  to  all  parts.1 

In  pursuance  of  the  advice  of  Pablo  de  Hita,  Go- 
vernor-General, attetnpts  were  renewed  in  1679  to 
convert  the  nations  of  the  southern  extremity  of  the 
peninsula,  and  in  1698,  there  were  fourteen  Fran- 
ciscans employed  among  them.  These  Indians  are 
described  as  "idolaters  and  given  to  all  abominable 
vices,"  and  not  a  few  of  the  missionaries  suffered  mar- 
tyrdom in  their  efforts  to  reclaim  them.2 

Towards  the  close  of  the  century,  (1696,)  the  con- 
dition of  St.  Augustine  is  described  by  Jonathan 
Dickinson3  as  follows  : — « It  is  about  three-quarters 
of  a  mile  in  length,  not  regularly  built,  the  houses 
not  very  thick,  they  having  large  orchards,  in  which 
are  plenty  of  oranges,  lemmons,  pome-citrons,  lymes, 
figgs,  and  peaches:  the  houses,  most  of  them,  are  old 
buildings,  and  not  half  of  them  inhabited.  The  number 
of  men  that  belong  to  government  being  about  three 
hundred,  and  many  of  them  are  kept  as  sentinalls  at 
their  lookouts.  At  the  north  end  of  the  town  stands  a 
large  fortification,  being  a  quadrangel  with  bastions. 
Each  bastion  will  contain  thirteen  guns,  but  there  is 
not  passing  two-thirds  of  fifty-two  mounted.  .  .  . 
The  wall  of  the  fortification  is  about  thirty  foot  high, 

built  of  sandstone  sawed  [coquina  rock] 

The  fort  is  moated  round." 

The  colony  of  Pensacola  or  Santa  Maria  de  Galve, 

1  He  published  two  Cedulas  Reales  for  this  purpose,  bearing 
the  dates  Oct.  20,  1680,  and  Sept.  30,  1687. 

2  Barcia,   p.   317 ;    Careri,   Voyage   round  the  World,  in 
Churchill's  Coll.,  Vol.  IV.,  p.  537. 

8  God's  Protecting  Providence,  pp.  77-8. 


160  FLORIDIAN   PENINSULA. 

founded  by  Andres  de  Pes  in  1693,  gradually  increasing 
in  importance  and  maintaining  an  overland  connection 
with  St.  Augustine,  naturally  gave  rise  to  intermediate 
settlements,  for  which  the  fertile,  wide-spread  savannas 
of  Alachua,  the  rich  hammocks  along  the  Suwannee, 
and  the  productive  limestone  soil  of  Middle  Florida 
offered  unrivalled  advantages. 

The  tractable  Apalaches  and  their  neighbors  received 
the  missionaries  with  much  favor,  and  it  is  said  that 
almost  all  the  former  were  converted;1  a  statement 
which  we  must  confine,  however,  to  that  small  portion 
of  the  confederated  tribes  included  under  this  title, 
that  lived  in  Middle  Florida.  When  Colonel  Moore 
invaded  their  country  in  1703-4,  he  found  them  living 
in  villages,  each  having  its  parish  church,  subsisting 
principally  by  agriculture,  and  protected  by  a  garrison 
of  Spanish  soldiers.2  The  open  well-cleared  character 
of  their  country,  and  the  marks  of  their  civilized  con- 
dition were  long  recalled  in  tradition  by  the  later 
Indians.3  So  strong  a  hold  did  Catholicism  take  upon 
them  that  more  than  a  century  subsequent,  when  the 
nation  was  reduced  to  an  insignificant  family  on  the 
Bayou  Rapide,  they  still  retained  its  forms,  corrupted 
by  admixture  with  their  ancient  heliolatry.4 

On  the  Atlantic  coast,  there  were  besides  St.  Augus- 
tine the  towns  of  San  Matheo,  Santa  Cruce,  San  Juan, 

1  Maintenant  ils  sont  presquetouts  Chretiens.     Louys  Mo- 
rery,  Le  Grand  Dictionnaire  Historique,  ou  le  Melange  Cu- 
rieux,  Vol.  I.,  Art.  Apalaches.      (Amsterdam  and  La  Haye, 
1702.) 

2  See  the  Report   on  Oglethorpe's  Expedition,  and  Col. 
Moore's  Letter  to  the  Governor,  in  Carroll's  Hist.  Colls,  of 
S.  CM  Vol.  II. 

3  Williams,  View  of  W.  Fla.,  p.  107. 

4  Alcedo,  Diet,  of  America,  Vol.  I.,  p.  81. 


THE  SPANISH   MISSIONS.  161 

Santa  Maria,  and  others.  The  Indians  of  these  mis- 
sions Dickinson1  describes  as  scrupulous  in  their 
observance  of  the  Catholic  rites,  industrious  and  pros- 
perous in  their  worldly  relations,  "  having  plenty  of 
hogs  and  fowls,  and  large  crops  of  corn;"  and  each 
hamlet  presided  over  by  "  Fryars,"  who  gave  regular 
instruction  to  the  native  children  in  school-houses 
built  for  the  purpose.  All  these  were  north  of  St. 
Augustine;  to  the  south  the  savages  were  more  per- 
verse, and  in  spite  of  the  earnest  labors  of  many  pious 
priests,  some  of  whom  fell  martyrs  to  their  zeal,  they 
clung  tenaciously  to  heathendom. 

Nothing  definite  is  known  regarding  the  settlements 
on  and  near  the  Gulf,  but  in  all  probability  they  were 
more  extensive  than  those  on  the  eastern  shore,  peo- 
pling the  coast  and  inland  plains  with  a  race  of 
civilized  and  Christian  Indians.  Cotemporary  geogra- 
phers speak  of  "the  towns  of  Achalaque,  Ossachile, 
Hirritiqua,  Coluna,  and  some  others  of  less  note," a  as 
founded  and  governed  by  Spaniards,  while  numerous 
churches  and  villages  are  designated  on  ancient  charts, 
with  whose  size  and  history  we  are  totally  unacquainted. 
Many  of  these  doubtless  refer  to  native  hamlets,  while 
the  Spanish  names  affixed  to  others  point  to  settle- 
ments made  by  that  nation.  How  much  the  Church 
of  Rome  had  at  heart  the  extension  and  well-being  of 
this  portion  of  her  domain,  may  be  judged  from  the 
fact  that  she  herself  bore  half  the  expense  of  the  mili- 
tary kept  in  the  province  for  its  protection.3 

Such  was  the  condition  of  the  Spanish  missions  of 

1  God's  Protecting  Providence,  pp.  G8-9. 
8  Herman  Moll,  Thesaurus  Geographus,  Pt.  II,  p.  211, 
4th  ed.     London,  1722. 
3  Dickinson,  God's  Protecting  Prov.,  p.  63. 
14* 


162  FLORIDIAN   PENINSULA. 

Florida  at  their  most  flourishing  period.  Shortly  after 
the  commencement  of  the  eighteenth  century,  foes 
from  the  north  destroyed  and  drove  out  the  colonists, 
demolishing  in  a  few  years  all  that  the  life,  and  the 
blood,  and  the  toil  of  so  many  martyrs  during  two  cen- 
turies had  availed  to  construct.  About  the  middle  of 
the  century  we  have  a  tolerably  accurate  knowledge  of 
the  country  through  English  writers;  and  then  so  few 
and  insignificant  were  the  Spanish  settlements,  that 
only  one  occurred  between  St.  Marks  and  St.  Augus- 
tine, while,  besides  the  latter,  the  only  post  on  the 
Atlantic  coast  was  a  wretched  "hut"  on  the  south  bank 
of  the  St.  Johns  at  its  mouth.1 

Undoubtedly  it  is  to  the  close  of  the  seventeenth 
century  therefore  that  we  must  refer  those  vestiges  of 
an  extensive  and  early  inhabitation  that  occasionally 
meet  our  notice  in  various  parts.  Sometimes  in  the 
depth  of  forests  of  apparently  primeval  growth  the 
traveller  has  been  astonished  to  find  rusting  church 
bells,  half  buried  brass  cannon,  mouldering  walls,  and 
the  decaying  ruins  of  once  stately  edifices.  Especially 
numerous  are  these  in  middle  Florida,  along  the  old 
Spanish  highway  from  St.  Augustine  to  Pensacola,  on 
the  banks  of  the  St.  Johns,  and  on  Amelia  island. 
The  Indians  informed  the  younger  Bartram2  that  near 
the  Suwannee,  a  few  miles  above  Manatee  Spring,  the 
Spaniards  formerly  had  "  a  rich,  well  cultivated,  and 
populous  settlement,  and  a  strong  fortified  post,  as  they 
likewise  had  at  the  savanna  and  field  of  Capola,"  east 
of  the  Suwannee,  between  it  and  the  Alachua  plains ; 
but  that  these  were  far  inferior  to  those  on  the  Apala- 

1  Roberts,  Hist,  of  Fla.,  p.  15,  and  Francis  Moore's  Voyage 
to  Georgia. 

2  Travels,  p.  233. 


THE   SPANISH   MISSIONS.  163 

chian  Old  Fields  "  where  yet  remain  vast  works  and 
buildings,  fortifications,  temples,  &c."  The  elder  Bar- 
tram1  speaks  of  similar  remarkable  antiquities  on  the 
St.  Johns,  Bernard  Romans2  in  various  parts  of  the 
interior,  Williams,3  Brackenridge,4  and  others5  in  mid- 
dle Florida,  and  I  may  add  the  numerous  Spanish  Old 
Fields  which  I  observed  throughout  the  peninsula,  the 
extensive  coquina  quarries  on  Anastasia  (St.  Estaca, 
Fish's)  Island,  and  the  deserted  plantations  on  Mus- 
quito  and  Indian  river  Lagoons,  as  unequivocal  proofs 
of  a  much  denser  population  than  is  usually  supposed 
to  have  existed  in  those  regions. 

The  easy  conquest  these  settlements  offered  to  the 
English  and  the  rapidity  with  which  they  melted  away 
were  partly  owing  to  the  insufficient  force  kept  for 
their  protection.  Colonel  Daniels,  who  led  the  land 
force  of  Governor  Moore's  army  in  1702,  and  took 
possession  of  St.  Augustine,  apparently  met  with  no 
noticeable  opposition  on  his  march  ;  while  we  have  it 
on  official  authority  that  the  year  after  there  were  only 
three  hundred  and  fifty-three  soldiers  in  the  whole 
province  of  whom  forty -five  were  in  Apalache,  seven 
in  Timuqua,  nineteen  in  Guale,  and  the  rest  in  St. 
Augustine. 

The  incursion  of  the  English  in  1702-1706,  and  of 
the  Creeks  (Alibamons)  in  1705,  were  very  destructive 

1  Travels  in  E.  Fla.,  p.  32,  Darlington,  Mems.  of  Bartram 
and  Marshall,  p,  284. 

8  Nat.  Hist.  E.  and  W.  Fla  ,  pp.  277-8. 

8  Nat.  and  Civil  Hist.  Fla.     Preface  and  p.  175. 

4  See  his  letter  on  the  Antiquities  of  the  State  in  Williams' 
View  of  W.  Fla.,  pp.  105-110. 

6  The  War  in  Fla.,  by  a  late  Staff  Officer,  p.  5;  see  also, 
the  account  of  Black  Hoof  in  Morse's  Rep.  on  Ind.  Affairs, 
App.  p.  98,  and  cf  Archaeol.  Am.,  Vol.  I.  p.  273. 


164  FLORIDIAN   PENINSULA. 

to  the  monastic  establishments  of  the  north,  and 
though  Juan  de  Ayala,  minister  of  the  interior,  de- 
voted himself  earnestly  to  restoring  them,  his  labor 
was  destined  to  yield  small  profit.  The  destruction  of 
Pensacola  by  Bienville  in  1719,  the  ravages  of  Colonel 
Palmer  eight  years  later,  the  second  demolition  of  the 
settlements  in  Apalache,  between  Tallahassie  and  St. 
Marks,  by  a  marauding  party  of  English  and  Indians 
in  1736,  the  inroad  of  Governor  Oglethorpe  four  years 
subsequent,  and  another  incursion  of  the  English  in 
1745 — these  following  in  quick  succession,  it  may  be 
readily  conceived  rendered  of  no  avail  the  efforts  of 
the  Franciscans  to  re-establish  their  missions  on  Flori- 
dian  soil. 

Previous  to  the  cession  to  England  the  settlements 
bad  become  reduced  to  St.  Josephs,  Pensacola,  and  St. 
Marks  on  the  Gulf,  Picolati  on  the  St.  Johns,  and 
St.  Augustine  on  the  Atlantic.  When  the  English 
took  possession,  the  latter  town  numbered  nine  hun- 
dred houses  and  five  thousand  seven  hundred  inhabi- 
tants including  a  garrison  of  two  thousand  five  hun- 
dred men.1  There  was  a  well-built  church  here  as 
also  at  Pensacola,  while  at  St.  Marks  there  were  two 
convents,  one  of  Jesuits  the  other  of  Franciscans.2  At 
this  time  but  very  few  of  the  Indians,  who  are  de- 
scribed as  "  bigotted  idolaters  worshipping  the  sun 
and  moon,"  and  "  noted  for  a  bold,  subtile,  and  deceit- 
ful people,"3  seem  to  have  been  in  the  fold  of  the 
Catholic  Church. 

Harassed  and  worn  out  as  the  colony  was  by  long 
wars,  and  apparently  soon  to  die  a  natural  death,  it  is 

1  Dr.  Stork,  Des.  of  E.  Fla.,  p.  8. 

2  Capt.  Robinson,  in  Roberts,  p.  97. 
8  Roberts,  Hist  of  Fla  ,  p.  5. 


THE  SPANISH  MISSIONS.  165 

not  a  matter  of  wonder  that  in  the  tripartite  Definitive 
Treaty  of  Peace  signed  at  Versailles,  February  10th, 
1763,  Spain  was  glad  to  relinquish  her  right  to  its 
soil  in  consideration  of  the  far  superior  island  of  Cuba.1 
Though  it  was  stipulated  that  all  who  desired  to  remain 
should  enjoy  their  property-rights,  and  religion,  very 
few  availed  themselves  of  the  privilege,  little  loth  to 
forsake  a  country  that  had  been  one  continued  scene 
of  war  and  tumult  for  more  than  half  a  century. 

With  this  closes  the  history  of  the  conversion  of 
the  Indians  as  during  the  English  regime  they  were 
lost  sight  of  in  other  issues,  and  when  the  Spanish  re- 
turned to  power  such  a  scene  of  unquiet  turmoil  and 
ceaseless  wrangling  awaited  them  as  effectually  to 
divert  their  attention  from  the  moral  condition  of  the 
aboriginal  tribes. 

1  Parliamentary  History,  Vol.  XV.,  Col.  1301,  Art.  XX. 


166  FLORIDIAN  PENINSULA. 

CHAPTEK  VI. 

ANTIQUITIES. 
Mounds.— Roads.— Shell  Heaps.— Old  Fields. 

THE  descriptions  left  by  the  elder  and  younger  Bar- 
tram  of  the  magnitude  and  character  of  the  Floridian 
antiquities,  had  impressed  me  with  a  high  opinion 
of  their  perfection,  and  induced  large  expectations  of 
the  light  they  might  throw  on  the  civilization  of  the 
aborigines  of  the  peninsula;  but  a  personal  examina- 
tion has  convinced  me  that  they  differ  little  from  those 
common  in  other  parts  of  our  country,  and  are  capable 
of  a  similar  explanation.  Chief  among  them  are  the 
mounds.  These  are  not  infrequent  upon  the  rich 
lowlands  that  border  the  rivers  and  lakes;  and  so 
invariably  did  their  builders  choose  this  position,  that 
during  the  long  journeys  I  made  in  the  prairies  and  flat 
pine  woods  east  of  the  St.  Johns  as  well  as  over  the 
rolling  and  fertile  country  between  this  river  and  the 
Gulf,  as  far  south  as  Manatee,  I  never  saw  one  other- 
Vise  located.  An  enumeration  and  description  of  some 
of  the  most  noteworthy  will  suffice  to  indicate  their 
character  and  origin. 

On  Amelia  island,  some  half  a  mile  east  of  Fernan- 
dina  new  town,  there  is  an  open  field,  containing  some 
thirty  acres,  in  shape  an  isosceles  triangle,  clothed 
with  long  grass  and  briary  vines,  bounded  on  all  sides 
by  dense  thickets  of  myrtle,  live-oak,  palmetto,  yellow 
pine  and  cedar.  About  midway  of  the  base  of  this 


ANTIQUITIES.  167 

triangle,  stands  a  mound  thrown  up  on  the  extremity 
of  a  natural  ridge,  which  causes  its  height  to  vary  from 
twenty  to  five-and-thirty  feet  on  the  different  sides.  It 
is  composed  of  the  common  surface  sand,  obtained  from 
the  east  side,  close  to  the  base,  where  an  excavation  is 
visible.  A  few  live-oaks  and  pines  grow  upon  it,  the 
largest  of  which,  at  the  time  of  my  visit  (1856),  meas- 
ured seventeen  inches  in  diameter.  There  is  a  fine 
view  from  the  summit,  embracing  on  the  west  the  vast 
marshes  between  Amelia  island  and  the  mainland,  with 
a  part  of  St.  Mary's  sound,  across  which,  northward, 
lie  the  woody  shores  of  Cumberland  island,  projected 
in  dark  relief  against  the  glittering  surf  of  the  Atlantic, 
which  stretches  away  in  a  brilliant  white  line  to  the 
north-east,  loosing  itself  in  the  broad  expanse  of  ocean 
that  bounds  the  eastern  horizon.  Hence,  one  of  its 
uses  was,  doubtless,  as  a  look-out  or  watch-tower ;  but 
from  excavations,  made  by  myself  and  others,  it  proved, 
like  every  similar  mound  I  examined,  or  heard  of  as 
examined,  in  Florida,  to  be,  in  construction,  a  vast 
tomb.  Human  bones,  stone  axes,  darts,  and  household 
utensils,  were  disinterred  in  abundance.  Quantities  of 
rudely  marked  fragments  of  pottery,  and  broken  oys- 
ter, clam,  and  conch  shells,  were  strewed  over  the  field. 
I  was  informed  of  a  second  mound,  smaller  in  size, 
somewhat  south  of  Fernandina  light-house  \  but  owing 
to  the  brevity  of  my  stay,  and  the  incredible  swarms 
of  musquitoes  that  at  that  season  infested  the  woods,  I 
did  not  visit  it.  I  could  learn  nothing  of  the  two 
large  tumuli  on  this  island,  known  as  the  "  Ogeechee 
Mounts/'  mentioned  by  the  younger  Bartram.1 

On  Fleming's  Island,  at  the  mouth  of  Black  Creek, 

1  Travels,  p.  65. 


168  FLORIDIAN   PENINSULA. 

identified  by  Sparks  with  the  "extremely  beautiful, 
fertile,  and  thickly  inhabited"  Edelano  of  the  French 
colonists,  and  on  Murphy's  Island,  eight  miles  above 
Pilatka,  are  found  mounds  of  moderate  size,  and  va- 
rious other  vestiges  of  their  ancient  owners.  But  far 
more  remarkable  than  these  are  the  large  constructions 
on  the  shores  and  islands  at  the  southern  extremity  of 
Lake  George,  first  visited  and  described  as  follows,  by 
John  Bartram,1  in  1760  :  "  About  noon  we  landed  at 
Mount  Royal,  and  went  to  see  an  Indian  tumulus, 
which  was  about  one  hundred  yards  in  diameter,  nearly 
round,  and  twenty  foot  high.  Found  some  bones  scat- 
tered on  it.  It  must  be  very  ancient,  as  live-oak  are 
growing  upon  it  three  foot  in  diameter;  directly  south 
from  the  tumulus  is  an  avenue,  all  the  surface  of 
which  has  been  taken  off  and  thrown  on  one  side, 
which  makes  a  bank  of  about  a  rood  wide  and  a  foot 
high,  more  or  less,  as  the  unevenness  of  the  ground 
required,  for  the  avenue  is  as  level  as  a  floor  from  bank 
to  bank,  and  continues  so  for  three  quarters  of  a  mile, 
to  a  pond  of  water  about  one  hundred  yards  wide  and 
one  hundred  and  fifty  long,  north  and  south, — seemed  to 
be  an  oblong  square,  and  its  banks  four  foot  perpen- 
dicular, gradually  sloping  every  way  to  the  water,  the 
depth  of  which  we  do  not  say,  but  do  not  imagine  it 
deep,  as  the  grass  grows  all  over  it ;  by  its  regularity 
it  seems  to  be  artificial ;  if  so,  perhaps  the  sand  was 
carried  from  thence  to  raise  the  tumulus." 

A  description  of  this  mound  is  also  given  by  Wm. 
Bartram,  who  visited  it  both  with  his  father,  and  fif- 
teen years  later.3  In  summing  up  the  antiquities,  he 
saw  in  Florida,  this  author  says,3  "  from  the  river 

1  Jour,  of  Travels  in  E.  Fla.,  p.  25. 

2  Travels,  p.  99.  3  Ibid.,  p.  521. 


ANTIQUITIES.  169 

St.  Juans  southerly  to  the  point  of  the  peninsula  of 
Florida  are  to  be  seen  high  pyramidal  mounts  with 
spacious  and  extensive  avenues  leading  from  them  out 
of  the  town  to  an  artificial  lake  or  pond  of  water.  The 
great  -mounts,  highways,  and  artificial  lakes  up  St. 
Juans  on  the  east  shore,  just  at  the  entrance  of  the 
great  Lake  George ;  one  on  the  opposite  shore,  on  the 
bank  of  the  Little  lake,  another  on  Dunn's  island,  a 
little  below  Charlotteville,  and  one  on  the  large  beau- 
tiful island  just  without  the  Capes  of  Lake  George,  in 
sight  of  Mount  Royal,  and  a  spacious  one  on  the  West 
banks  of  Musquitoe  river  near  New  Smyrna,  are  the 
most  remarkable  of  this  sort  that  occurred  to  me." 

The  artificial  lakes  in  this  account  are  the  excava- 
tions made  in  obtaining  material,  since  filled  with 
water.  The  highways,  which,  in  another  passage,  the 
above  quoted  writer  describes  as  "  about  fifty  yards 
wide,  sunk  a  little  below  the  common  level,  and  the 
earth  thrown  up  on  each  side,  making  a  bank  of  about 
two  feet  high,"1  seem,  from  both  French  and  Spanish 
accounts  to  have  been  not  unusual  among  the  natives. 
Laudonniere  mentions  one  of  great  beauty  that  extended 
from  the  village  of  Edelano  to  the  river  some  three 
hundred  paces  in  length,2  and  another  still  more  con- 
siderable at  the  head  quarters  of  the  powerful  chief 
Utina,3  which  must  have  been  very  near  if  not  identi- 
cal^ with  that  at  Mount  Royal.  La  Vega,  in  his 

1  Travels,  p.  99. 

2  Au  sorty  du  village  d'Edelano,  pour  venir  au  port  de  la 
riviere  il  faut  passer  par  une  alle"e,  longue  environ  de  trois  cens 
pas  et    large  de    quinze,  aux  deux  costez  de  laquelle  sont 
plantez  de  grands  arbres,  &c.     Hist.  Notable,  p.  138. 

3  II  y  a  au  sortir  du  village  une  grande  allee  de  trois  a 
quatre  cens  pas,  laquelle  et  recouverte  de  grands  arbres  des 
deux  costez.     Hist.  Not.,  pp.  164-5. 

15 


170  FLOKIDIAN  PENINSULA. 

remarkable  chapter  on  the  construction  of  the  native 
villages,1  speaks  of  such  broad  passages  leading  from 
the  public  square  at  the  base  to  the  house  of  the  chief 
on  the  summit  of  the  mound  that  the  natives  were  ac- 
customed to  throw  up  for  its  site.  What  we  are  to 
understand  by  the  royal  highways,  Caminos  Reales, 
near  Tampa  Bay,  that  lead  from  one  town  to  another, 
(que  van  de  un  Pueblo  al  otro,)3  an  expression  that 
would  not  be  applicable  to  mere  trails,  is  not  very 
evident. 

Six  miles  by  water  above  Lake  Monroe,  near  the 
shore  of  a  small  lagoon  on  the  left  bank  of  the  river, 
stands  an  oval  mound  of  surface  soil  filled  with  human 
bones  of  so  great  an  age,  and  so  entirely  decomposed, 
that  the  instrument  with  which  I  was  digging  passed 
through  them  with  as  much  ease  as  through  the  cir- 
cumjacent earth.  Yet,  among  these  ancient  skeletons, 
I  discovered  numerous  small  blue  and  large  white  glass 
beads,  undoubtedly  inhumed  at  the  formation  of  the 
tumulus.  The  bodies  were  all  of  adults  and  no  special 
order  in  their  deposition  seemed  to  have  been  observed. 
Previous  to  my  visit,  I  was  informed  that  small  earthen- 
ware articles  had  been  disinterred,  some  of  which  were 
simply  pyramids  of  triangular  bases,  whose  use  had 
much  puzzled  the  finder.  We  know  that  this  form, 
sacred  in  the  mythologies  of  the  old  world  to  the  wor- 
ship of  the  productive  power,  had  also  a  strong  religious 
significance  among  the  Natchez,  and  many  other  ab- 
original tribes,3  and  probably  in  connection  with  the 
burial  of  the  dead,  it  possessed  among  the  Floridians, 

1  Conq.  de  la  Florida,  Lib.  IT.,  P.  I ,  cap.  ult. 

2  La  Vega,  Ibid.,  Lib.  I.,  cap.  V.,  pp.  30-1. 

3  Lafitau  in  Baumgarten,  Geschichte  von  Amerika,  B.  I.,  a. 
71;  Schoolcraft,  Algic  Researches,  Vol.  II.,  pp.  52,  190. 


ANTIQUITIES.  171 

as  it  did  among  the  ancients  and  orientals,1  a  symboli- 
cal connection  with  the  immortality  of  the  soul  and  the 
life  after  death. 

In  the  rich  hammock  half  a  mile  below  Lake  Harney 
on  the  left  bank  of  the  St.  Johns,  is  a  large  oval  mound, 
its  transverse  diameter  at  base  forty  yards,  and  thirty 
feet  in  height.  It  is  surrounded  by  a  ditch  whence 
the  soil  of  which  it  is  constructed  was  taken.  An  ex- 
tremely luxuriant  vegetation  covers  the  whole  hammock 
and  the  mound  itself,  though  few  of  the  trees  indicate 
a  great  age.  On  the  same  side  of  the  river  twenty 
miles  above  the  lake,  is  another  similar  mound.  They 
are  abundant  on  the  rich  lands  of  Marion  and  Alachua 
counties,  and  in  the  hammocks  of  the  Suwannee,  and 
are  found  at  least  as  far  south  as  Charlotte's  Harbor 
and  the  Miami  river.  There  is  one  on  the  government 
reserve  in  Tampa,  another  at  the  head  of  Old  Tampa 
Bay,  and  a  third  on  Long  Key,  Sarasota  Bay.  A 
portion  of  the  latter  has  been  washed  away  by  the 
waters  of  the  gulf  and  vast  numbers  of  skeletons  ex- 
posed, some  of  which  I  was  assured  by  an  intelligent 
gentleman  of  Manatee,  who  had  repeatedly  visited  the 
spot  and  examined  the  remains,  were  of  astonishing 
size  and  must  have  belonged  to  men  seven  or  eight 
feet  in  height.  This  statement  is  not  so  incredible  as 
it  may  appear  at  first  sight.  Various  authors  report 
instances  of  equally  gigantic  stature  among  the  abori- 
gines of  our  country.  The  chiefs  of  the  province  of 
Chicora,  a  portion  of  what  is  now  South  Carolina, 
were  famous  for  their  height,  which  was  supposed  to 

1  Knight,  Anc.  Art.  sect.  162;  Mackay,  Progress  of  the 
Intellect,   Vol    I.,  p.  198,  note28;  Montfaucon,  Antiquities, 
Vol.  II ,  p.  235;  Gcirres,  Mythengeschichte,   B.  I.,  s.  171. 
10 


172  FLORIDIAN   PENINSULA. 

prove  their  royal  blood;1  some  inhabitants  of  the  pro- 
vince of  Amichel  on  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  were  not  less 
remarkable  in  this  respect;9  and  Beverly  found  among 
certain  human  bones  religiously  preserved  in  a  temple 
of  the  Virginian  Indians  an  osfemoris,  measuring  two 
feet  nine  inches  in  length  ;3  while  in  our  own  days, 
Schoolcraft  saw  a  humerus  at  Fort  Hill,  New  York,4 
and  Lanman,  sundry  bones  in  a  cave  in  Virginia5  that 
must  have  belonged  to  men  compared  to  whom  ours  is 
but  a  race  of  dwarfs. 

On  the  opposite  banks  of  Silver  Spring  run,  respec- 
tively a  quarter  of  a  mile  and  a  mile  and  a  half  below 
the  head,  there  are  two  tumuli.  Pottery,  axes,  and 
arrow-heads  abound  in  the  vicinity,  and  every  sign 
goes  to  show  that  this  remarkable  spot  was  once  the 
site  of  a  populous  aboriginal  settlement. 

What  now  are  the  characteristics  of  this  class  of 
Floridian  mounds  ?  In  summing  up  the  whole  avail- 
able knowledge  respecting  .them,  we  arrive  at  the 
conclusion  that  to  whatever  purpose  they  may  have 
subsequently  been  applied,  they  were  originally  con- 
structed as  vast  cemeteries.  Mount  Royal  tumulus 
is  but  a  heap  of  bones  covered  with  earth,  and  none 
have  as  yet  been  opened  but  disclosed  the  same  con- 
tents. They  are  very  simple  in  construction.  I  saw 


1  Real  Oedula  que  contiene  el  asiento  capitulado  con  Lucas 
Vasquez  de  Aillon,  in  Navarrete  Viages,  Tom.  III.  p.  153 ; 
Basanier,  Hist.  Notable,  p.  29,  and  eomp  ,  p.  78. 

*  Real  cedula  dando  facultad  a  Francisco  de  Garay  para 
poblar  la  Provincia  de  Amichel,  in  Navarrete,  Tom.  III.,  p. 
148.  The  account  says  they  were  "  de  diez  a  once  palrnos 
en  alto." 

3  Histoire  de  la  Virginie,  Liv.  III.,  p.  259,  (Orleans,  1707.) 

4  Notes  on  the  Iroquois,  p.  482. 

6  Letters  from  the  Allegheny  Mountains,  Let.  XX.  p.  162. 


ANTIQUITIES.  173 

no  well-defined  terraces,  no  groups  of  mounds,  none 
with  rectangular  or  octagonal  bases,  no  ditches  but 
those  made  in  excavating  material,  no  covered  ways,  no 
stratification;  in  short,  none  of  those  signs  of  a  com- 
paratively advanced  art  that  distinguish  the  earthworks 
of  Ohio.  Their  age  is  not  great.  Some  indeed  are 
covered  with  trees  of  large  size,  and  in  one  case  the 
annual  rings  were  said  to  count  back  to  the  year  1145,1 
(a  statement,  however,  that  needs  confirmation,)  but 
the  rapid  growth  of  vegetation  in  that  latitude  requires 
but  a  few  years  to  produce  a  forest.  The  plantation 
of  Lord  Holies,  deserted  some  fourscore  years  since,  is 
now  overgrown  with  pines  a  foot  in  diameter,  and  ]> 
have  seen  old  fields  still  bearing  the  marks  of  cultiva- 
tion covered  with  lofty  forests,  and  a  spot  of  cleared 
land,  forsaken  for  ten  years,  clothed  with  a  thriving 
growth  of  palmetto  and  oak.  Moreover,  savage  and 
civilized,  all  men  agree  in  leaving  nature  to  adorn  the 
resting  places  of  the  dead,  and  hence  it  is  an  egre- 
gious error  to  date  the  passing  away  of  a  nation  from 
the  oldest  tree  we  find  on  its  graves.  Kather,  when 
we  recollect  that  from  the  St.  Lawrence  to  the  Pampas, 
many  tribes  did  religious  homage  to  certain  trees,  and 
when  we  remember  how  universal  a  symbol  they  are 
of  birth  and  resurrection,  should  we  be  surprised  were 
they  not  cultivated  and  fostered  on  the  sepulchres  of 
the  departed.2 

We  need  no  fanciful  hypotheses  to  explain  tho 
reason  and  designate  the  time  of  these  constructions. 
The  bare  recountai  of  the  burial  rites  that  prevailed 

1  Archseologia  Americana,  Vol.  I. 

2  On  the  role  of  trees  in  primitive  religions  consult  Guig- 
niaut,  Religions  de  1'Antiquite,  T.  I.,  pp.  81,  150,  note,  391, 
400. 

15* 


174  FLOKIDIAN   PENINSULA. 

among  the  aborigines  is  all  sufficient  to  solve  tlie  rid- 
dle of  bone  mounds  both  as  they  occur  in  Florida  and 
all  other  States.  The  great  feature  of  these  rites  was 
to  preserve  the  bones  of  the  dead,  a  custom  full  of 
significance  in  nature-worship  everywhere.  For  this 
purpose  the  corpses  were  either  exposed  or  buried  till 
sufficient  decomposition  had  ensued  to  permit  the  flesh 
to  be  easily  removed.  The  bones  were  then  scraped 
clean,  and  either  carried  to  private  dwellings,  or 
deposited  in  public  charnel-houses;  such  were  the 
"  Templos  que  Servian  de  Entierros  y  no  de  Casas  de 
Oracion,"  seen  by  De  Soto  at  Tampa  Bay,1  and  the 
^Osarios,"  bone-houses,  in  Cofachiqui,  among  the 
Cherokees.2  Finally,  at  stated  periods,  they  were 
collected  from  all  quarters,  deposited  in  some  pre- 
determined spot,  and  there  covered  with  soil  heaped 
into  the  shape  of  a  cone.  Annual  additions  to  the 
same  cemetery  gave  rise  to  the  extraordinary  dimen- 
sions that  some  attained ;  or  several  interments  were 
made  near  the  same  spot,  and  hence  the  groups  often 
seen.3 

As  the  Natchez,  Taencas,  and  other  southern  tribes 
were  accustomed  to  place  the  council-house  and  chief's 
dwelling  on  artificial  elevations,  both  to  give  them  an 
air  of  superior  dignity,  to  render  them  easy  of  defence, 

1  La  Vega,  Conq.  de  la  Florida,  Lib.  I.,  cap.  IV.,  p.  5. 

2  Ibid.  Lib.  III.,  cap  XLV.,  p.  129,  cap.  XV.,  p.  131,  et  sq. 

3  For  descriptions  of  this  mode  of  interment,  essentially  the 
same  in  most  of  the  tribes  from  the  Mississippi  to  the  St. 
Lawrence,  and  very  widely  prevalent  in  South  America,  con- 
sult Win.  Bartram,  Travels,  p.  516  ;   Romans,  Nat.  Hist.  Fla., 
pp.  88-90;  Adair,  Hist.  N.  Am.  Inds.,  p  183  ;  Lawson,  New 
Account  of  Carolina,  p.  182,  in  Stevens'  Collection  ;   Beverly, 
Hist,    de  la  Virginie,   pp.    259-62 ;  Baumgarten,    Ges.    von 
Amerika,  B.  I.,  s.  470;  Colden,  Hist,  of  the  Five  Nations,  p. 
16,  and  many  others. 

x 


ANTIQUITIES.  175 

and  in  some  localities  to  protect  from  inundations,1  so 
the  natives  of  Florida,  in  pursuance  of  the  same  cus- 
tom, either  erected  such  tumuli  for  this  purpose,  or 
more  probably,  only  took  advantage  of  those  burial 
mounds  that  the  vicissitudes  of  war  had  thrown  in 
their  hands,  or  a  long  period  of  time  deprived  of  sacred 
associations.  In  the  town  of  Ucita,  .where  De  Soto 
landed,  "  The  Lordes  house  stoode  neere  the  shore 
upon  a  very  hie  mounte  made  by  hande  for  strength,"2 
and  La  Vega  gives  in  detail  their  construction. 

While  this  examination  of  their  sepulchral  rites, 
taken  in  connection  with  the  discovery  of  glass  beads 
in  situ,  leaves  no  doubt  but  that  such  remains  were 
the  work  of  the  people  who  inhabited  the  peninsula  at 
its  discovery  by  Europeans,  it  is  not  probable  that  the 
custom  was  retained  much  after  this  period.  The 
Lower  Creeks  and  Seminoles,  so  far  from  treating  their 
dead  thus,  took  pains  to  conceal  the  graves,  and  never 
erected  mounds  save  in  one  emergency.  This  was  in 
the  event  of  a  victorious  battle,  when  they  collected 
the  dead  into  one  vast  pile,  and  covered  them  with 
earth,3  simply  because  it  was  the  most  convenient  way 
to  pay  those  last  and  mournful  duties  that  humanity 
demands  at  our  hands. 

Another  class  of  burial  mounds,  tallying  very  nearly 
with  those  said  by  the  French  to  have  been  raised  over 
their  dead  by  the  early  Indians  of  the  St.  Johns,  are 
not  unusual  in  the  hammocks  along  this  river.  They 

1  See  an  instructive  notice  from  Pere  le  Petit  in  the  Lettres 
Edifiantes  et  Curieuses,  T.  IV.,  pp.  261-2,  and  the  Inca,  Lib. 
II.,  pp.  69-70;  Lib.  IV.,  p.  188;  Lib.  V.,  pp.  202,  231,  &c. 

8  Port  Gent ,  in  Hackluyt,  V.,  p.  489. 

3  Nar.  of  Oceola  Nikkanoche,  pp.  71-2.  The  author  speaks 
of  one  "that  must  have  covered  two  acres  of  ground,"  but 
this  is  probably  a  misapprehension. 


176        FLORIDIAN  PENINSULA. 

are  only  a  few  feet  in  height,  resembling  in  appearance 
the  hillocks  of  humus  left  by  the  roots  of  uprooted 
trees,  from  which  they  can  be  distinguished  by  their 
general  range,  (N.,  S.,)  by  the  hollows  on  each  side 
whence  the  earth  was  obtained,  and  by  their  construc- 
tion. They  are  sometimes  distinctly  stratified,  pre- 
senting layers  of  sand,  ashes  and  charcoal,  and  clay. 
Bones,  arrow-heads,  axes,  and  pottery  are  found  in 
them,  but  as  fur  as  my  own  observations  extended, 
and  those  of  a  Norwegian  settler  bearing  the  classic 
name  of  Ivon  Ericson,  who  assured  me  he  had  exam- 
ined them  frequently  on  the  Upper  St.  Johns,  in  no 
case  were  beads  or  other  articles  indicating  a  fami- 
liarity with  European  productions  discovered. 

The  utensils,  the  implements  of  war  and  the  chase 
exhumed  from  the  mounds,  and  found  in  their  vicinity, 
do  not  differ  from  those  in  general  use  among  the  In- 
dians of  all  parts  at  their  first  discovery,1  and  go  to 
corroborate  the  opinion  that  all  these  earthworks — and 
I  am  inclined  to  assert  the  same  of  the  whole  of  those 
in  the  other  Atlantic  States,  and  the  majority  in  the 
Mississippi  valley — were  the  production,  not  of  some 
mythical  tribe  of  high  civilization  in  remote  antiquity, 
but  of  the  identical  nations  found  by  the  whites  re- 
siding in  these  regions. 

An  equally  interesting  and  more  generally  dis- 
tributed class  of  antiquities  are  the  beds  and  heaps  of 

1  I  am  aware  that  Mr.  Schoolcraft  places  the  pottery  of 
Florida  intermediate  between  the  coarse  work  of  the  northern 
hunter  tribes,  and  the  almost  artistic  manufactures  of  Yuca- 
tan and  Mexico,  (see  an  article  on  the  Antiquities  of  Florida, 
in  the  Hist,  of  the  Ind.  Tribes,  Vol.  III. ;)  but  the  numerous 
specimens  obtained  in  various  parts  of  the  peninsula  that  I 
had  opportunities  to  examine,  never  seemed  to  indicate  a 
civilization  so  advanced. 


ANTIQUITIES.  177 

shells.  These  are  found  with  more  or  less  frequency 
on  the  shores  of  every  State  from  Connecticut  south- 
ward along  the  Atlantic  and  Gulf  of  Mexico.  Some 
of  them  are  of  enormous  exteat,  covering  acres  of 
ground,  and  of  a  singular  height.  For  a  long  time 
it  was  a  debateable  point  whether  they  belonged  to  the 
domain  of  the  geologist  or  antiquarian;  later  researches 
have  awarded  them  to  both,  by  distinguishing  between 
those  of  natural  and  artificial  origin.1  The  latter  are 
recognized  by  the  presence  of  darts,  pottery,  charcoal, 
&c.,  in  original  connection  with  the  shells  and  debris 
throughout  the  mass,  by  the  presence  of  surface  soil, 
roots,  and  stumps,  in  situ  beneath  the  heap,  by  near- 
ness to  an  open  fishing  shore,  and  finally  by  the  valves 
of  the  shell  fish  being  asunder  and  their  edges  factured 
or  burnt;  on  the  other  hand,  whole  closed  shells  as  at 
Easton  in  Maryland,  fragments  of  older  fossils  in  ori- 
ginal connection,  distinct  stratification,3  and  remoteness 
from  any  known  oyster  bed,  as  those  of  northern 
Texas,  northern  Georgia,  and  perhaps  of  Cumberland 
county,  New  Jersey,  are  convincing  proofs  of  their 
natural  deposition. 

Examples  in  Florida  are  numerous  and  striking.  At 
Fernandina  new  town  on  Amelia  island,  a  layer  ex- 
tends along  the  face  of  the  bluff  for  one  hundred  and 
fifty  yards  and  inland  a  quarter  of  a  mile,  sometimes 
three  feet  in  depth,  composed  almost  wholly  of  shells 
of  the  esculent  oyster  though  with  clams  and  conches 
sparsely  intermixed.  The  valves  are  all  separate,  the 

1  There  is  an  excellent  paper  on   this  topic  by  the  well- 
known  geologist,  Lardner  Vanuxem,  in  the  Trans.  Am.  Assoc. 
Geol.  and  Naturalists,  for  1840-42,  p.  21.  sq. 

2  This  is  not  an  invariable  proof  however ;  see  Tuomey, 
Geol.  Survey  of  S.  Car.,  p.  199,  note. 


178  FLORIDIAN  PENINSULA. 

shells  in  some  places  rotten,  fractured  and  mixed  with 
sand,  charcoal,  and  pottery,  while  in  others  as  clean 
and  sound  as  if  just  from  the  hands  of  the  oysterman. 

Similar  deposits  are  found  in  various  parts  of  the 
island ;  on  the  main  land  opposite ;  on  both  sides  of 
the  entrance  to  the  St.  Johns;  on  Anastasia  island; 
and  every  where  along  the  coast  both  of  the  Atlantic 
and  the  Gulf.  One  of  the  most  remarkable  is  Turtle 
Mound  on  Musquito  Lagoon,  near  New  Smyrna.  "  It 
is  thirty  feet  high,  composed  almost  altogether  of  sepa- 
rate oyster  shells,  it  being  rare  to  find  an  entire  one ; 
there  ?re  also  some  conch  and  clam  shells,  both  of 
which  are,  however,  exceedingly  scarce.  That  it  is 
artificial  there  is  no  doubt  on  my  mind.  Some  eight 
or  ten  years  since  we  experienced  a  gale  in  this  section 
of  the  country,  from  the  northwest,  which  caused  that 
portion  of  the  mound  facing  the  river,  the  steepest 
part,  to  wash  and  fall  considerably ;  being  there  a  few 
days  afterwards,  I  took  considerable  pains  to  examine 
the  face  of  it,  and  found  as  low  as  the  bottom  and  as 
high  up  as  I  could  observe,  numberless  pieces  of  Indian 
pottery,  and  quantities  of  bones  principally  of  fish, 
but  no  human  ones ;  also  charcoal  and  beds  of  ashes. 
The  one  on  which  I  reside,  opposite  New  Smyrna,  is 
precisely  of  the  same  formation.  Having  had  occasion 
some  time  back  to  dig  a  hole  six  or  eight  feet  deep,  I 
found  precisely  the  same  contents  that  I  have  described 
at  Turtle  Mound,  with  the  addition  of  some  few  flint 
arrowheads." 

For  this  interesting  description  from  the  pen  of  a 
gentleman  of  the  vicinity  I  am  indebted  to  the  kind- 
ness of  Mr.  F.  L.  Dancy,  State  Geologist  of  Florida; 
he  adds  from  his  own  observation  an  account  of  one 
on  Chrystal  river,  on  the  Gulf  -coast,  four  miles  from 


ANTIQUITIES.  179 

its  mouth.  "  The  marsh  of  the  river  at  that  point  is 
some  twenty  yards  wide  to  the  firm  land,  at  which 
point  this  mound  commences  to  rise;  it  is  on  all  sides 
nearly  perpendicular,  the  faces  covered  with  brush  and 
trees  to  which  the  curious  have  to  cling  to  effect  an 
ascent.  It  is  about  forty  feet  in  height,  the  top  sur- 
face nearly  level,  about  thirty  feet  across,  and  covered 
with  magnolia,  live-oak,  and  other  forest  trees,  some  of 
them  four  feet  in  diameter.  Its  form  is  that  of  a 
truncated  cone,  and  as  far  as  can  be  judged  from  ex- 
ternal appearance,  it  is  composed  exclusively  of  oyster 
shells  and  vegetable  mould.  These  shells  are'all  sepa- 
rated. The  mound  was  evidently  thrown  up  by  the 
Indians  for  a  lookout,  as  the  Gulf  can  be  distinctly 
seen  from  its  summit.  There  are  no  oysters  growing 
at  this  time  within  four  or  five  miles  of  it." 

Other  shell  heaps  are  met  with  along  the  coast  but 
none  equalling  in  magnitude  that  seen  by  Sir  Charles 
Lyell1  on  Cannon's  Island  at  the  mouth  of  the  Alta- 
maha,  covering  ten  acres  of  ground,  "elevated  in  some 
places  ten  feet  and  on  an  average  five  feet  above  the 
general  level/'  and  which  this  eminent  geologist  attri- 
butes exclusively  to  the  Indians,  or  the  vast  beds  of 
Gnathodon  Cuncatus,  on  Mobile  Bay,  described  by  Mr. 
Hale,3  which,  however,  are  probably  of  natural  forma- 
tion, though  containing  quantities  of  human  bones, 
pottery,  images,  &c. 

It  is  strange  that  we  find  no  notices  of  the  formation 
of  these  heaps  by  the  early  travellers;  I  do  not  re- 
member to  have  met  with  any  except  a  line  in  Cabeza 
de  Vaca,  where,  speaking  of  a  tribe  on  the  Gulf,  he 

'  Second  Visit  to  the  United  States,  Vol.  I.,  p.  252. 
2  Am.  Jour,  of  Science,  Vol.  XL,  (2  ser.)  pp.  164-74. 


180  FLORIDIAN  PENINSULA. 

says  their  houses  were   « built  of  mats  on  heaps  of 
oyster  shells/'1 

Along  Manatee  river  I  noticed  numerous  small  heaps 
of  conches,  attributable  to  the  later  Indians,  and  in 
the  post-pliocene  shellbluffs  at  the  mouth  of  this  river, 
nearly  twenty  feet  in  height  composed  largely  of  a 
species  of  Pyrula?  I  found  numerous  fragments  of  a 
coarse,  ill-marked,  pottery,  not,  however,  where  the 
shells  were  unbroken  and  clean,  but  where  they  were 
fragmentary,  mixed  with  charcoal,  ashes  and  dirt,  and 
never  more  than  three  feet  below  the  surface.  The 
singular  hillocks,  whose  formation  is  a  geological  enigma 
not  readily  solved,  so  frequent  along  the  St.  Johns, 
vast  aggregations  of  Helices  with  some  Unios  and 
other  fresh  water  shells  in  connection,  without  admix- 
ture of  earth,  in  some  cases  thirty  feet  high,  and  ir- 
regularly stratified,  are  not  to  be  mistaken  for  those  of 
artificial  construction,  though  from  the  frequency  of 
Indian  relics  found  in  them,  they  seem  to  have  been  a 
chosen  place  of  burial  for  the  aboriginal  tribes. 

Among  the  relics  dating  from  a  later  period  are  the 
"  Indian  Old  Fields."  These  are  portions  of  land 
once  cleared  and  cultivated  by  the  Seminoles,  and  are 
found  wherever  the  fertility  of  the  soil  promised  favor- 
ably for  agriculture.  They  are  very  abundant  in  Ala- 
chua,  where,  says  Bartram,3  "  almost  every  step  dis- 

1  Le  caseloro  sono  edificate  di  stuore  sopra  scorze  d'ostriche, 
e  sopra  di  esse  dormono  sopra  cuoi  d'anitnali.     Relatione  que 
fece  Alvaro  Nunez,  detto  Capo  di  Vaca,  Ramusio,  Viaggi,  T. 
III.,  fol.  317.,  E. 

2  On  the  geology  of  these  bluffs,  see  the  articles  by  Mr.  Allen , 
in  the  first,  and  Mr.  Conrad  in  the  second  volume  of  the  Ana. 
Jour.  Science.  (Second  series.) 

3  Travels,  p.  198. 


ANTIQUITIES.  181 

covers  traces  of  ancient  human  habitation/'  reminding 
us  of  the  time  «  when  the  Indians  could  assemble  by 
thousands  at  ball  play  and  other  juvenile  diversions 
and  athletic  exercises  on  these  then  happy  fields  and 
green  plains."-  Such  is  the  tenacity  of  the  soil  for 
retaining  impressions,  that  the  marks  of  tillage  by 
which  these  are  distinguished  from  the  Spanish  old 
fields  are  easily  seen  and  readily  discriminated,  even 
after  they  are  covered  by  a  dense  growth  of  trees. 


16 


APPENDIX  I, 


THE   SILVER    SPRING. 

THE  geological  formation  of  Florida  gives  rise  to 
springs  and  fountains  of  such  magnitude  and  beauty, 
that  they  deserve  to  be  ranked  with  the  great  fresh- 
water lakes,  the  falls  of  Niagara,  and  the  Mississippi 
river,  as  grand  hydrographical  features  of  the  North 
American  continent.  The  most  remarkable  are  the 
Wakulla,  twelve  miles  from  Tallahassie,  of  great  depth 
and  an  icy  coldness,  which  is  the  best  known,  and  has 
been  described  by  the  competent  pen  of  Castlenau  and 
others,  the  Silver  Spring  and  the  Manatee  Spring. 
The  latter  is  on  the  left  bank  of  the  Suwannee,  forty- 
five  miles  from  its  mouth,  and  is  so  named  from 
having  been  a  favorite  haunt  of  the  sea-cow,  ( Triche- 
cfms  Manatus,)  whose  bones,  discolored  by  the  sulphuret 
of  iron  held  in  solution  by  the  water,  are  still  found 
there. 

The  Silver  Spring,  in  some  respects  the  most  remark- 
able of  the  three,  is  in  the  centre  of  Marion  county,  ten 
miles  from  the  Ocklewaha,  into  which  its  stream  flows, 
and  six  miles  from  Ocala,  the  county  seat.  In  Decem- 
ber, 1856,  I  had  an  opportunity  to  examine  it  with 
the  aid  of  proper  instruments,  which  I  did  with  much 
care.  '  It  has  often  been  visited  as  a  natural  curiosity, 
and  is  considered  by  tourists  one  of  the  lions  of  the 


184  APPENDIX  I. 

State.  To  be  appreciated  in  its  full  beauty,  it  should 
be  approached  from  the  Ocklewaha.  For  more  than  a 
week  I  had  been  tediously  ascending  this  river  in  a 
pole-barge,  wearied  with  the  monotony  of  the  dank  and 
gloomy  forests  that  everywhere  shade  its  inky  stream,1 
when  one  bright  morning  a  sharp  turn  brought  us  into 
the  pellucid  waters  of  the  Silver  Spring  Run.  A  few 
vigorous  strokes  and  we  had  left  behind  us  the  cypress 
swamps  and  emerged  into  broad,  level  savannas,  that 
stretched  miles  away  on  either  hand  to  the  far-off  pine 
woods  that,  like  a  frame,  shut  in  the  scene.  In  the 
summer  season  these  prairies,  clothed  'in  the  luxuri- 
ance of  a  tropical  vegetation,  gorgeously  decked  with 

1  The  peculiar  hue  of  the  whole  St.  Johns  system  of  streams 
has  been  termed  by  various  travellers  a  light  brown,  light  red, 
coffee  color,  rich  umber,  and  beer  color.  In  the  sun  it  is 
that  of  a  weak  lye,  but  in  the  shade  often  looks  as  black  as 
ink.  The  water  is  quite  translucent  and  deposits  no  sedi- 
ment. The  same  phenomenon  is  observed  in  the  low  country 
of  Carolina,  New  Jersey,  and  Lake  Superior,  and  on  a  large 
scale  in  the  Rio  Negro,  Atababo.  Temi,  and  others  of  South 
America.  In  the  latter,  Humboldt  (Ansichten  der  Natur,  B. 
I.,  p.  263-4)  ascribes  it  "to  a  solution  of  carburetted  hydro- 
gen, to  the  luxuriance  of  a  tropical  vegetation,  and  to  the 
quantity  of  plants  and  herbs  on  the  ground  on  which  they 
flow."  In  Florida,  the  vast  marshes  and  hammocks,  covered 
the  year  round  with  water  from  a 'few  inches  to  two  feet  in 
depth,  yet  producing  such  rank  vegetation  as  to  block  up  the 
rivers  with  floating  islands,  are  doubtless  the  main  cause. 
The  Hillsboro,  Suwannee,  and  others,  flowing  through  the 
limestone  lands  into  the  Gulf,  are  on  the  other  hand  remark- 
able for  the  clarity  of  their  streams.  I  have  drank  this 
natural  decoction  when  it  tasted  and  smelt  so  strongly  of 
decayed  vegetable  matter  as  almost  to  induce  nausea.  A  fact 
not  readily  explained  is  that  while  the  dark  waters  of  other 
regions  are  marked  by  a  lack  of  fish  and  crocodiles,  a  free- 
dom from  stinging  musquitoes,  a  cooler  atmosphere  and 
greater  salubrity,  nothing  of  the  kind  occurs  on  these 
streams. 


APPENDIX  I.  185 

innumerable  flowers,  and  alive  with  countless  birds 
and  insects  of  brilliant  hues,  offer  a  spectacle  that 
once  seen  can  never  be  forgotten. 

But  far  more  strangely  beautiful  than  the  scenery 
around  is  that  beneath — the  subaqueous  landscape. 
At  times  the  bottom  is  clothed  in  dark-green  sedge 
waving  its  long  tresses  to  and  fro  in  the  current,  now 
we  pass  over  a  sunken  log  draperied  in  delicate  aquatic 
moss  thick  as  ivy,  again  the  scene  changes  and  a  bot- 
tom of  greyish  sand  throws  in  bright  relief  concentric 
arcs  of  brilliantly  white  fragments  of  shells  deposited 
on  the  lower  side  of  ripple  marks  in  a  circular  basin. 
Far  below  us,  though  apparently  close  at  hand,  enor- 
mous trout  dash  upon  their  prey  or  patiently  lie  in 
wait  undisturbed  by  the  splash  of  the  poles  and  the 
shouts  of  the  negroes,  huge  cat-fish  rest  sluggishly  on 
the  mud,  and  here  and  there,  every  protuberance  and 
bony  ridge  distinctly  visible,  the  dark  form  of  an  alli- 
gator is  distended  on  the  bottom  or  slowly  paddles  up 
the  stream.  Thus  for  ten  miles  of  an  almost  straight 
course,  east  and  west,  is  the  voyager  continually  sur- 
prised with  fresh  beauties  and  unimagined  novelties. 

The  width  of  the  stream  varies  from  sixty  to  one 
hundred  and  twenty-five  feet,  its  average  greatest 
depth  about  twenty,  the  current  always  quite  rapid. 
For  about  one  mile  below  its  head,  forests  of  cypress, 
maple,  ash,  gum,  and  palmetto  adorn  the  banks  with 
a  pleasing  variety  of  foliage.  The  basin  itself  is  some- 
what elliptical  in  form,  the  exit  being  at  the  middle  of 
one  side;  its  transverse  diameter  measures  about  one 
hundred  and  fifty  yards,  (N.  E.,  S.  W.,)  its  conjugate 
one  hundred  yards.  Easterly  it  is  bordered  by  a 
cypress  swamp,  while  the  opposite  bank  is  hidden  by 
a  dense,  wet  hammock.  A  few  yards  from  the  brink 
16* 


186  APPENDIX  I. 

opposite  the  exit  runs  a  limestone  ridge  of  moderate 
elevation  covered  with  pine  and  jack-oak. 

The  principal  entrance  of  the  water  is  at  the  north- 
eastern extremity.  Here  a  subaqueous  limestone  bluff 
presents  three  craggy  ledges,  between  the  undermost  of 
which  and  the  base  is  an  orifice,  about  fifteen  feet  in 
length  by  five  in  height,  whence  the  water  gushes  with 
great  violence.  Another  and  smaller  entrance  is  at  the 
opposite  extremity.  The  maximum  depth  was  at  the 
time  of  my  visit  forty-one  feet.  The  water  is  tasteless, 
presents  no  signs  of  mineral  matter  in  solution,  and  so 
perfectly  diaphanous  that  the  smallest  shell  is  entirely 
visible  on  the  bottom  of  the  deepest  portion.  Slowly 
drifting  in  a  canoe  over  the  precipice  I  could  not 
restrain  an  involuntary  start  of  terror,  so  difficult  was 
it,  from  the  transparency  of  the  supporting  medium  for 
the  mind  to  appreciate  its  existence.  When  the  sun- 
beams fall  full  upon  the  water,  by  a  familiar  optical 
delusion,  it  seems  to  a  spectator  on  the  bank  that  the 
bottom  and  sides  of  the  basin  are  elevated,  and  over 
the  whole,  over  the  frowning  crags,  the  snow-white 
shells,  the  long  sedge,  and  the  moving  aquatic  tribes, 
the  decomposed  light  flings  its  rainbow  hues,  and  all 
things  float  in  a  sea  of  colors,  magnificent  and  im- 
pressive beyond  description.  What  wonder  that  the 
untaught  children  of  nature  spread  the  fame  of  this 
marvellous  fountain  to  far  distant  climes,  and  under 
the  stereoscopic  power  of  time  and  distance  came  to 
regard  it  as  the  life-giving  stream,  whose  magic  waters 
washed  away  the  calamities  of  age  and  the  pains  of 
disease,  round  whose  fortunate  shores  youths  and 
maidens  ever  sported,  eternally  young  and  eternally 
joyous! 

During  my  stay  I  took  great  pains  to  ascertain  the 


APPENDIX  I.  187 

exact  temperature  of  the  water  and  from  a  number  of 
observations  made  at  various  hours  of  the  day  ob- 
tained a  constant  result  of  73.2°,  Fahrenheit.  This 
is  higher  than  the  mean  annual  temperature  of  the 
locality,  which,  as  determined  by  a  thermometrical 
record  kept  at  Fort  King  near  Ocala  for  six  years,  is 
70.00°;  while  it  is  lower  than  that  of  the  small  min- 
eral springs  so  abundant  throughout  the  peninsula, 
which  I  rarely  found  less  than  75°.  It  is  probable, 
however,  that  this  is  not  a  fixed  temperature  but  varies 
with  the  amount  of  water  thrown  out.  Competent 
observers,  resident  on  the  spot,  informed  me  that  a 
variation  of  three  feet  in  the  vertical  depth  of  the 
basin  had  been  known  to  occur  in  one  year,  though 
this  was  far  greater  than  usual.  The  time  of  highest 
water  is  shortly  after  the  rainy  season,  about  the  month 
of  September,  a  fact  that  indicates  the  cause  of  the 
change. 

Visiting  the  spring  when  at  a  medium  height  I  en- 
joyed peculiar  advantages  for  calculating  the  amount 
of  water  given  forth.  The  method  I  used  was  the 
convenient  and  sufficiently  accurate  one  of  the  log  and 
line,  the  former  of  three  inches  radius,  the  latter 
one  hundred  and  two  feet  in  length.  In  estimating 
the  size  of  the  bed  I  chose  a  point  about  a  quarter  of 
a  mile  from  the  basin.  The  results  were  calculated 
according  to  the  formulae  of  Buat.  After  making  all 
possible  allowance  for  friction,  for  imperfection  of  in- 
struments, and  inaccuracy  of  observation,  the  average 
daily  quantity  of  water  thrown  out  by  this  single 
spring  reaches  the  enormous  amount  of  more  than 
three  hundred  million  gallons  ! 

Numbers  such  as  this  are  beyond  the  grasp  of  the 
human  intellect,  bewildering  rather  than  enlightening 


188  APPENDIX  I. 

the  mind.  Let  us  take  another  unit  and  compare  it 
with  the  most  stupendous  hydrographical  works  of 
man  that  have  been  the  wonders  of  the  world.  Most 
renowned  of  these  are  the  aqueducts  of  Rome.  In 
the  latter  half  of  the  first  century,  when  Frontinus 
was  inspector,  the  public  register  indicated  a  daily 
supply  of  fourteen  thousand  and  eighteen  quinaria, 
about  one  hundred  and  ninety-six  million  gallons.  Or 
we  can  choose  modern  instances.  The  city  of  London  is 
said  to  require  forty  million  gallons  every  twenty-four 
hours,  New  York  about  one-third,  and  Philadelphia 
one-quarter  as  much.  Thus  we  see  that  this  one  fount 
furnishes  more  than  enough  water  to  have  satisfied  the 
wants  of  Rome  in  her  most  imperial  days,  to  supply 
plenteously  eight  cities  as  large  as  London,  a  score  of 
New  Yorks,  or  thirty  Philadelphias.  By  the  side  of 
its  stream  the  far-famed  aqueduct  of  Lyons,  yielding 
one  million  two  hundred  and  nine  thousand  six  hun- 
dred gallons  daily,  or  the  Croton  aqueduct,  whose 
maximum  diurnal  capacity  is  sixty  million  gallons, 
seems  of  feeble  importance,  while  the  stateliest  canals 
of  Solomon,  Theodoric,  or  the  Ptolemies  dwindle  to 
insignificant  rivulets. 

Neither  is  this  the  emergence  of  a  sunken  river  as 
is  the  case  with  the  Wakulla  fountain,  but  is  a  spring 
in  the  strictest  sense  of  the  word,  deriving  its  suste- 
nance from  the  rains  that  percolate  the  porous  tertiary 
limestone  that  forms  the  central  ridge  of  the  peninsula. 

There  are  many  other  springs  both  saline,  mineral, 
and  of  pure  water,  which  would  be  looked  upon  as 
wonders  in  any  country  where  such  wonders  were  less 
abundant.  Such  are  the  Six  Mile  Spring  (White 
Spring,  Silver  Spring),  and  the  Salt  Spring  on  the 
western  shore  of  Lake  George,  a  sulphur  spring  on 


APPENDIX   T.  189 

Lake  Monroe,  one  mile  from  Enterprise,  another  eight 
miles  from  Tampa  on  the  Hillsboro'  river,  Gadsden's 
spring  in  Columbia  county,  the  Blue  spring  on  the 
Ocklawaha,  Orange  Springs  in  Alachua  county,  the 
Oakhumke  the  source  of  the  Withlacooche,  and  num- 
berless others  of  less  note.1  Besides  these,  the  other 
hydrographical  features  of  the  peninsula  are  unique 
and  instructive,  well  deserving  a  thorough  and  special 
examination;  such  are  the  intermittent  lakes,  which, 
like  the  famous  Lake  Kauten  in  Prussia,  the  Lugea 
Palus  or  Zirchnitzer  See  in  the  duchy  of  Carniola,  and 
the  classical  Lake  Fucinus,  have  their  regular  periods 
of  annual  ebb  and  flow ;  while  the  sinking  rivers  Santa 
Fe,  Chipola,  Econfinna,  Ocilla  and  others  offer  no  less 
interesting  objects  of  study  than  their  analogues  in 
the  secondary  limestone  of  Styria,  in  Istria,  Carniola, 
Cuba,  and  other  regions. 

When  we  ponder  on  the  cause  of  these  phenomena 
we  are  led  to  the  most  extraordinary  conclusions.  To 
explain  them  we  are  obliged  to  accept  the  opinion — 
which  very  many  associated  facts  tend  to  substantiate 
— that  the  lower  strata  of  the  limestone  formation  of 
the  peninsula  have  been  hollowed  out  by  the  action  of 
water  into  vast  subterranean  reservoirs,  into  enormous 
caverns  that  intersect  and  ramify,  extending  in  some 
cases  far  under  the  bed  of  the  adjacent  ocean,  through 
whose  sunless  corridors  roll  nameless  rivers,  and  in 
whose  sombre  halls  sleep  black  lakes.  During  the 
rainy  season,  gathering  power  in  silence  deep  in  the 
bowels  of  the  earth,  they  either  expend  it  quietly  in 

1  For  particulars  concerning  some  of  these,  see  Wm.  Bar- 
tram,  Travels,  pp.  145,  165,  206,  230;  Notices  of  E.  Florida, 
by  a  recent  Trav.,  pp.  28,  44;  American  Journal  of  Science, 
Vol.  XXV.,  p.  165,  I ,  (2  ser.)  p.  39. 


190  APPENDIX  I. 

fountains  of  surprising  magnitude,  or  else,  bursting 
forth  in  violent  eruptions,  rend  asunder  the  overlying 
strata,  forming  the  "lime  sinks,"  and  "bottomless 
lakes,"  common  in  many  counties  of  Florida ;  or 
should  this  occur  beneath  the  ocean,  causing  the  phe- 
nomenon of  "  freshening,"  sometimes  to  such  an  extent 
as  to  afford  drinkable  water  miles  from  land,  as  oc- 
curred some  years  ago  off  Anastasia  Island,  and  in 
January,  1857,  near  Key  West. 


APPENDIX  II. 


THE  MUMMIES  OF  THE  MISSISSIPPI 
VALLEY. 

A  NUMBER  of  years  ago  considerable  curiosity  was 
excited  by  the  discovery  of  mummies  in  Tennessee  and 
Kentucky,  and  many  theories  were  promulged  regard- 
ing their  origin,  but  I  believe  neither  that  nor  their 
age  has,  as  yet,  been  satisfactorily  determined. 

Some  were  found  as  early  as  1775,  near  Lexington, 
Kentucky,  but  we  have  no  definite  account  of  any 
before  those  exhumed  September  2,  1810,  in  a  cop- 
peras cave  in  Warren  county,  Tennessee,  on  the  Cany 
fork  of  the  Cumberland  river,  ten  miles  below  the 
Falls.  These  were  described  in  the  Medical  Repository 
by  Mr.  Miller,  whose  article  was  followed  by  another 
in  the  same  periodical,  illustrated  by  a  sketch,  in  sup- 
port of  the  view  that  this  discovery  indicated  the 
derivation  of  the  Indians  from  the  Malays  and  Tartars. 
The  same  pair  was  also  described  by  Breckenridge  and 
Flint  a  few  years  later. 

Shortly  previous  to  1813,  two  mummies  were  found 
in  the  Gothic  avenue  of  the  Mammoth  Cave,  and  not 
long  afterwards,  (1814,)  another  in  the  Audabon 
avenue. 


192  APPENDIX  II. 

The  same  year,  several  more  were  discovered  in  a 
nitre  cave  near  Glasgow,  Kentucky,  by  Thomas  Mon- 
roe, who  forwarded  one  to  the  American  Antiquarian 
Society,  described  by  Dr.  Mitchell  in  the  first  volume 
of  the  publications  of  that  body. 

Again,  in  1828,  two  more  were  found  in  a  complete 
state  of  preservation  in  a  cave  of  West  Tennessee,  men- 
tioned in  the  American  Journal  of  Science,  (Vol.  xxii. 
p.  124.) 

With  that  zest  for  the  wonderful,  for  which  antiqua- 
rians are  somewhat  famous,  the  idea  that  these  remains 
could  belong  to  tribes  with  whom  the  first  settlers  were 
acquainted,  was  rejected,  and  recourse  was  had  to  Ma- 
lays, South  Sea  Islanders,  and  the  antipodes  generally, 
for  a  more  reasonable  explanation.  It  was  said  that 
the  envelopes  of  the  bodies  (all  of  which  bore  close 
resemblance  among  themselves)  pointed  to  a  higher 
state  of  the  arts  than  existed  among  the  Indians  of  the 
Mississippi  Valley,  and  that  the  physical  differences, 
the  color  of  the  hair,  &c.,  were  irreconcileable.  I 
think,  however,  it  may  be  shown  that  these  objections 
are  of  no  weight,  and  that  the  bodies  in  question  were 
interred  at  a  comparatively  late  period. 

The  wrappings  consisted  usually  of  deer  skins,  dressed 
and  undressed,  mats  of  split  canes,  some  as  much  as 
sixty  yards  long,  and  a  woven  stuff  called  "blankets," 
"sheets,"  and  " cloth;"  this  was  often  either  bordered 
with  feathers  of  the  wild  turkey  and  other  birds,  or 
covered  with  them  in  squares  and  patterns.  Their 
ages,  as  guessed  from  appearances,  varied  from  ten 
years  to  advanced  life.  In  several  cases  the  mark  of 
a  severe  blow  on  the  head  was  seen,  which  must  have 
caused  the  individual's  death.  Their  stature  was 


APPENDIX  II.  193 

usually  in  conformity  to  their  supposed  age;1  the 
weight  of  one,  as  given  by  Flint,  six  or  eight  pounds ; 
in  all  cases  but  one  the  hair  of  a  "sorrel,"  "foxy," 
"yellow"  or  "sandy"  color;  and  they  were  usually 
found  five  or  six  feet  below  the  surface. 

First,  then,  in  our  examination,  the  question  arises, 
did  the  Indians  of  the  Mississippi  Valley,  when  first 
met  by  the  whites,  possess  the  art  of  manufacturing 
woven  stuff  of  the  kind  mentioned  ?  In  answer  we 
have  the  express  words  of  the  Inca,2  "  These  mantles 
the  Indians  of  Florida  make  of  a  certain  herb-like 
mallows,  (malvas,)  which  has  fibres  like  flax,  (que 
tiene  hebra,  como  lino,)  and  from  the  same  they  make 
thread,  to  which  they  give  colors  which  remain  most 
firmly."  The  next  explorer  was  La  Salle ;  in  Tonty's 
account  of  his  expedition,3  he  remarks  that  he  saw  in 
a  council  lodge  of  the  Taencas,  "  sixty  old  men  clothed 
in  large  white  cloaks,  which  are  made  by  the  women 
from  the  bark  of  the  mulberry  tree."  Still  more  to 
our  purpose  are  the  words  of  later  writers,  who  men- 
tion the  interweaving  of  feathers.  Not  only,  says 
Dumont,4  do  the  Indian  women  make  garters  and 
ribbons  of  the  wool  of  the  buffalo,  (du  laine  du  beuf,) 
but  also  a  sort  of  mat  of  threads  obtained  from  tho 
bark  of  the  linden,  (tilleul,)  "qu'elles  couvrent  de 
plumes  de  cigne  des  plus  fines,  attachees  une  &  une 

1  Flint,  (Travels,  Let.  XVL,  p.  172,)  says  that  neither  of 
those  found  in  1810  measured  more  than  four  feet.     This  is 
an  error.     He  only  saw  the  female,  whose  age  was  not  over 
fourteen,  and  the  squatting  position  in  which  the  body  was, 
deceived  him. 

2  Conq.  de  la  Florida,  Lib.  V.,  P.  II.,  cap.  VIII. 

3  In  French's  Hist.  Coll.  of  La.,  Pt.  I.,  p.  61. 

4  Mems.  Hist,  sur  la  Louisiane,  T.  I.,  pp    154-5. 

17 


194:  APPENDIX  II. 

ur  cet  toil."  Dupratz1  mentions  similar  cloaks  of 
mulberry  bark  covered  « with  the  feathers  of  swans, 
turkeys,  and  India  ducks,"  the  fibres  of  the  bark 
being  twisted  "  about  the  thickness  of  packthread," 
and  woven  "  with  a  wrought  border  around  the  edges." 
Of  the  Indians  of  North  Carolina,  Lawson  says,a 
"  Their  feather  match-coats  are  very  pretty,  especially 
some  of  them  which  are  made  extraordinary  charm- 
ing, containing  several  pretty  figures,  wrought  in 
feathers,  making  them  seem  like  a  fine  flower  Silk- 
Shag."  Other  examples  might  be  given,  but  these 
are  sufficient. 

The  cane  mat  was  an  article  of  daily  use  among  the 
tribes  wherever  the  cane  grew,  and  was  bartered  to 
those  where  it  did  not.  The  Arkanzas,  Taencas,  Cenis, 
Natchez,  and  Gulf  tribes,  used  it  to  cover  their  huts;3 
hence  a  piece  even  sixty  yards  long  was  no  uncommon 
matter;  while  in  one  instance  at  least,4  we  know  that 
the  eastern  tribes  rolled  their  dead  in  them,  tying 
them  fast  at  both  ends.  All  the  minor  articles  of 
ornament  and  dress,  the  bone  and  horn  needles,  the 
vegetable  beads,  &c.,  can  be  shown  with  equal  facility 
to  have  been  in  general  use  among  the  natives.5 

It  has  usually  been  supposed  that  these  bodies  were 
preserved  by  the  chemical  action  of  the  nitriferous  soil 
around  them;  but  this  does  not  account  for  their  per- 

1  Hist,  of  Louisiana,  Vol.  II.,  p.  230. 

2  A  New  Account  of  Carolina,  p.  191. 

3  Joutel,  Jour.  Hist.,  p.  218 ;   Mems.  of  Sieur  de  Tonty,  p. 
61 ;  Dupratz,  V.  II.,  p.  22 ;  Cabeza  de  Vaca.  in  Ramusio,  T. 
III.,  fol.  317,  E. 

4  Lawson,  ubi  supra,  p.  180. 

6  It  was  remarked  of  the  mummy  found  in  the  Mammoth 
cave,  "  In  the  making  of  her  dress  there  is  no  evidence  of  the 
use  of  any  other  machinery  than  bone  and  horn  needles." 
(Collin's  Kentucky,  p.  257.) 


APPENDIX  II.  195 

fection  and  extreme  desiccation,  inclosed  as  they  were 
in  such  voluminous  envelopes.  Yet  it  is  quite  certain 
that  the  viscera  were  never  absent,  nor  has  any  balm 
or  gum  been  found  upon  them.1  Hence,  if  artificially 
prepared,  it  must  have  been  by  protracted  drying  by 
fire,  in  a  manner  common  among  the  ancient  inhabi- 
tants of  the  Caroline  islands,  the  Tahitians,  the  Guan- 
ches  of  Teneriffe,  and  still  retained  in  some  convents 
in  the  Levant.  It  is  well  known  that  in  America  the 
Popayans,  the  Nicaraguans,  and  the  Caribs  of  the 
West  Indies  had  this  custom;3  but  I  believe  that 
attention  has  not  been  called  to  the  fact,  that  this 
very  mode  of  preserving  the  dead  was  used  more  or 
less  by  the  Indians  of  the  Mississippi  Valley.  The 
southern  tribes  of  Mississippi  and  Alabama  dried  the 
corpse  of  their  chief  over  a  slow  fire,  placed  it  in  the 
temple  as  an  object  of  adoration  till  the  death  of  his 
successor,  and  then  transferred  it  to  the  bottom  or 
cellar  (fond)  of  the  building.8  Analogous  usages, 
modifications  of  this  and  probably  derived  from  it, 
prevailed  among  the  tribes  of  North  Carolina,  Vir- 
ginia, and  the  Pacific  coast,4  while  we  have  seen  that 
Bristock  asserts  the  same  of  the  Apalachites.  That  a 
cave  should  be  substituted  for  a  temple,  or  that  the 
bodies  should  be  ultimately  inhumed,  cannot  excite 
our  surprise  when  we  recall  how  subject  the  Indians 

1  Arcbseologia  Americana,  'Vol.  I.,  p.  230. 

2  Whence  the  French  verb  boucaner,  and  the  English  buc- 
caneer.     Possibly   the   custom   may  have   been  introduced 
among  the  tribes  of  the  northern  shore  of  the  Gulf  by  the 
Caribs. 

3  Dumont,  Mems.,  Hist,  sur  la  Louisiane,  T.  I  ,  p.  240. 

4  De  Dry,  Peregrinationes  in  America,  P.  I.,  Tab.  XXII. : 
Beverly,  Hist,  de  la  Virginie,  Liv.  III.,  pp.  285-6  ;  Lawson, 
Acc't  of    Carolina,  p.  182 ;    Schoolcraft,  Hist.  Ind.  Tribes, 
Vol.  V.,  p.  693. 


196  APPENDIX   II. 

were  to  sudden  attacks,  how  solicitous  that  their  dead 
should  not  be  disturbed,1  and  how  caves  were  ever 
regarded  by  them  as  natural  temples  for  their  gods 
and  most  fit  resting  places  for  their  dead.3 

The  rarity  of  the  mummies  may  be  easily  accounted 
for  as  only  the  bodies  of  the  chiefs  were  thus  preserved. 
Yet  it  is  a  significant  fact  that  a  body  is  rarely,  if  ever, 
found  alone.  Moreover,  in  every  case  of  which  we 
have  special  description,  these  are  of  different  sexes, 
and  one,  the  female,  and  the  youngest,  sometimes 
apparently  not  more  than  twelve  or  fourteen  years  of 
age,  evidently  died  by  violence.  How  readily  these 
seemingly  unconnected  facts  take  place  and  order,  and 
how  intelligible  they  become,  when  we  learn  that  at 
the  death  of  a  ruler  the  Indians  sacrificed  and  buried 
with  him  one  or  two  of  his  wives,  and  in  some  tribes 
the  youngest  was  always  the  chosen  victim  of  this 
cruel  superstition.3 

The  light  color  of  the  hair  is  doubtless  caused  by 
the  nitriferous  soil  with  which  it  had  been  so  long 
surrounded;  a  supposition  certified  by  one  instance, 
where,  in  consequence  of  the  unusually  voluminous 
wrappings,  and  perhaps  a  later  interment,  it  retained 
the  black  color  of  that  of  the  true  Indian.* 

Though  most  of  these  references  relate  to  nations 
not  dwelling  immediately  in  the  area  of  country  where 

1  See  the  Inca,  Lib.  IV.,  caps.  VIII.,  IX. 

*  See  the  Am.  Jour,  of  Science,  Vol.  I ,  p.  429  ;  Vol.  XXII., 
p.  124;  Collin's  Kentucky,  pp.  177,  448,  520,  541;  Brad- 
lord,  Am.  Antiqs.,  Pt.  I.  p.  29. 

3  Dumont,  Mems.  Hist ,  T.  II.,  pp.  178,  238;  Dupratz,  Vol. 
II.,  p.  221,  and  for  the  latter  fact,  Mems.  of  the  Sieur  de 
Tonty,  p.  61. 

4  Medical  Repository,  Vol.  XVI.,  p.  148.     This  opinion  is 
endorsed  by  Bradford,  Am.  Antiqs.,  p.  31. 


APPENDIX  II.  197 

the  mummies  are  found,  it  is  quite  unnecessary  for  me 
to  refer  in  this  connection  to  those  numerous  and  valid 
arguments,  derived  both  from  tradition  and  archaeology, 
that  prove  beyond  doubt  that  this  tract,  and  indeed  the 
whole  Ohio  valley,  had  changed  masters  shortly  before 
the  whites  explored  it,  and  that  its  former  possessors 
when  not  destroyed  by  the  invaders,  had  been  driven 
south. 

Hence  we  may  reasonably  infer,  that  as  no  article 
found  upon  the  mummies  indicates  a  higher  degree  of 
art  than  was  possessed  by  the  southern  Indians,  as  the 
physical  changes  are  owing  to  casual  post  mortem 
circumstances,  as  we  have  positive  authority  that  cer- 
tain tribes  were  accustomed  to  preserve  the  corpses  of 
their  chiefs;  and  lastly,  as  we  have  many  evidences  to 
show  that  such  tribes,  or  those  closely  associated  with 
with  them,  once  dwelt  further  north  than  they  were 
first  found,  consequently  the  deposition  of  the  mum- 
mies must  be  ascribed  to  a  race  who  dwelt  near  the 
region  where  they  occur,  at  the  time  of  its  exploration 
by  Europeans. 


APPENDIX   III. 


THE   PRECIOUS   METALS  POSSESSED  BY 
THE  EARLY  FLORIDIAN  INDIANS. 

THE  main  idea  that  inspired  the  Spanish  expeditions 
to  Florida  was  the  hope  of  discovering  riches  there, 
equal  to  the  gorgeous  opulence  of  Peru  and  Mexico. 
Although  the  country  was  supposed  to  be  north  of  the 
auriferous  zone — in  accordance  with  which  geological 
notion  in  his  map  of  the  world  (1529)  Diego  de  Ribero 
inscribes  on  the  land  marked  "  Tierra  de  Garay," 
north  of  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  now  West  Florida, 
"  This  land  is  poor  in  gold,  as  it  lies  too  far  from  the 
tropic  of  Cancer"1 — yet  an  abiding  faith  in  its  riches 
was  kept  alive  by  Spanish  traders  obtaining  from  time 
to  time  morsels  of  gold  from  the  natives.  As  early 
as  the  first  voyage  of  De  Leon  (1512),  they  possessed 
and  used  it  as  an  article  of  barter  in  small  quantities.2 
The  later  explorers,  Narvaez,  De  Soto,  Ribaut,  and 

1  Humboldt,  Krit.  Untersuch.  ueber  die  Hist.  Entwickelung 
der  Geog.  Kentnisse  der  neuen  Welt,  B.  I.,  s.  322  ;  the  same 
reason  is  given  by  De  Laet,  Descrip.  Ind.  Occident.  Lib.  IV., 
cap.  XIV. 

a  "  Guaiiines  de  oro,"  Navarrete,  Viages,  Tom.  III.,  p.  52  ; 
Herrera,  Dec.  I.,  Lib.  IX.,  cap.  XI. 


200  APPENDIX  III. 

Laudonniere,  report  both  gold  and  silver,  but  never, 
as  far  as  their  own  observations  went,  in  any  abun- 
dance. The  savages  were  always  eagerly  questioned 
as  to  its  origin  and  always  returned  one  of  two 
answers;  either  that,  they  had  pilfered  it  from  the 
wrecks  of  vessels  driven  on  their  coasts,  or  else  they 
referred  the  inquirer  to  a  distant  and  mountainous 
country  to  the  north,  known  both  to  the  nations  on 
the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  those  at  the  extreme  south  of  the 
peninsula,  and  those  on  the  Atlantic  coast  as  far  north 
as  the  Savannah  river,  as  Apalache.  Here,  said  the 
rumors,  the  men  wore  cuirasses  of  gold  and  shields  of 
burnished  silver,  while  the  women  were  impeded  in 
their  dancing  by  the  weight  of  their  golden  ornaments 
and  strings  of  pearls.  We  have  seen  that  this  name 
was  at  one  period  applied  to  a  large  area  of  country, 
and  hence  have  no  difficulty  in  appreciating  the  error 
that  Narvaez  committed  when  he  supposed  the  small 
town  of  that  name  east  of  the  Apalachicola  to  contain 
the  major  part  of  the  nation.  Fontanedo,  whose  long 
residence  among  the  Indians  renders  him  one  of  our 
best  authorities  on  certain  points,  says  expressly  that 
the  snowy  mountains  of  Onagatano  whence  the  gold 
was  obtained  were  the  furthermost  possessions  of  Apa- 
lache.1 

There  is  a  general  similarity  in  the  accounts  of  the 
direction  and  remoteness  of  the  mines.  The  coast 
tribes  north  of  the  St.  Johns  river  had  pieces  of  sieroa 
pira,  red  metal,  which  was  tested  by  a  goldsmith  who 
accompanied  Laudonniere  and  found  to  be  pure  gold. 
When  asked  where  this  was  obtained  they  pointed  to 
the  north.  Another  chief  who  gave  them  slips  of  sil- 

1  Mais  on  n'y  trouve  pas  d'or,  parce  qu'elle  est  eloigne  des 
mines  d'Onagatono,  situ^es  dans  les  montagnes  neigeuses 
d'Onagatono  dernieres  possessions  d'Abolachi,  Memoire,  p.  32. 


APPENDIX  III.  201 

ver  said  it  came  from  a  country  at  the  foot  of  lofty 
mountains  ten  long  days'  journey  inland,  towards  the 
north.  A  third  had  small  grains  of  gold,  silver,  and 
copper,  procured,  according  to  his  own  account,  by 
washing  the  sands  of  a  creek  that  flowed  at  the  base  of 
lofty  mountains  five  or  six  days  journey  in  a  north- 
westerly direction.  The  artist  Le  Moyne  de  Morgues, 
drawing  somewhat  on  his  imagination,  represents  in 
his  forty-first  sketch  this  method  of  cleaning  it.  Hence 
on  some  maps  of  a  very  early  period  the  southern 
Alleghanies  bear  the  name  Apalatcy  Monies  Auriferi. 
Years  afterwards,  rumors  derived  from  the  Indians 
were  rife  among  the  Spanish  colonists  of  a  «  very  rich 
and  exceeding  great  city,  called  La  Grand  Copal, 
among  the  mountains  of  Gold  and  Chrystal,"  fifteen 
or  twenty  days  journey  northwest  of  St.  Augustine.1 

Now  as  the  gold  mines  of  Georgia  and  Carolina  lie 
about  three  hundred  miles  north  or  northwest  of 
Florida,  such  accounts  as  these  can  leave  no  reasonable 
doubt  but  that  they  were  known  to  the  Indians,  and 
to  a  certain  extent  worked  before  the  arrival  of  the 
white  man.  Indeed,  may  we  not  impute  to  them  the 
ancient  and  unrecorded  mining  operations,  signs  of 
which  are  occasionally  met  with  in  the  gold  country  of 
Georgia  ?  Such  are  the  remains  of  what  are  called 
"  furnaces,"  the  marks  of  excavations,  various  rude 
metallurgical  instruments,  the  buried  log  houses,  and 
other  tokens  of  a  large  population  in  some  remote  past, 
found  from  time  to  time  in  the  vicinity  of  Dahlonega 
and  various  parts  of  the  Nacooche  valley.*  These 

1  Pedro  Morales,  in  Hackluyt,  Vol.  III.,  p.  432. 

2  See  Lanman's  Letters  from  the  Allegheny  Mountains,  pp. 
9,  26,  27  ;  White,  Hist.  Coll.  of  Georgia,  pp.  487-8. 


202  APPENDIX   III. 

were  referred  by  the  finders  to  De  Soto,  who  offers  a 
favorite  and  ready  explanation  for  any  construction  of 
unknown  age,  in  that  part  of  our  country;  thus  I  have 
been  told  that  the  bone  mounds  in  Florida  were  the 
burial  places  of  his  soldiers,  and  on  one  occasion  a 
post  pliocene  bank  of  shells  on  Tampa  Bay  was  pointed 
out  to  me  as  the  ruins  of  one  of  his  forts.  It  is  un- 
necessary to  add  that  the  soldiers  under  this  ill-fated 
leader  spent  no  time  in  digging  gold  either  in  north 
Georgia  or  anywhere  else. 

That  in  the  course  of  barter  small  quantities  of  the 
metals  here  obtained — for  we  must  ascribe  to  ship- 
wrecks the  "  lumps  of  gold  several  pounds  in  weight" 
said  to  have  been  found  in  modern  times  on  the  shores 
of  Florida  and  Carolina1 — should  have  gradually  pro- 
ceeded to  the  nations  on  the  shores  of  the  Atlantic 
and  the  Gulf  of  Mexico,  and  even  to  the  Caloosas  in 
South  Florida,  four  hundred  miles  from  their  starting 
point,  will  not  astonish  any  one  acquainted  with  the 
extent  to  which  the  transportation  of  metals  was  car- 
ried by  the  aborigines  in  other  portions  of  the  continent. 

.!  Humboldt,  Island  of  Cuba,  p.  131,  note.  1  £> 


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